Cyclone 'Amphan' to make landfall along with very high wind speed, heavy rains
New Delhi: Super cyclone 'Amphan' is likely to make landfall along the West Bengal coast on Wednesday with very high wind speeds ranging up to 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph and heavy rains.
This was conveyed to the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, which met here on Tuesday to review the preparedness of the states and central ministries and agencies to deal with the cyclonic storm, an official statement said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has stated that the super cyclone is expected to impact the West Bengal coast by the afternoon or evening of May 20.
Very high wind speeds ranging up to 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph are expected, accompanied by heavy rainfall and storm surges of 4-5 metres in the coastal districts of the state.
Districts of East Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Kolkata are expected to be impacted, the statement said.
The damage potential of the cyclone is expected to be higher than that of cyclone 'Bulbul', which hit the West Bengal coast on November 9, 2019, it said.
Cyclone 'Amphan' will also bring heavy rainfall, squally winds and storm surges in the coastal districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore in Odisha.
Chief Secretary, Odisha and Additional Chief Secretary, West Bengal apprised the NCMC of preparatory measures taken by them. They informed that evacuation of people from the low lying areas is being carried out.
All actions have been taken to stock food grains, drinking water and other essential supplies. Teams for maintenance and restoration of Power and Telecom services have also been positioned.
Reviewing the preparedness of the States and central agencies, the cabinet secretary asked the state governments to ensure timely and complete evacuation of people from low lying areas in the cyclone's path and maintain adequate quantities of essential supplies such as food, drinking water and medicines, etc.
They were also advised that teams for road clearance and other restoration work be kept ready. A total of 36 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are currently deployed in both the states.
Rescue and relief teams of the Army and Navy along with ships and aircrafts of the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard have been put on standby.
Officials from agencies of the Department of Telecommunications and Ministry of Power are also deployed in the states to ensure maintenance of essential services.
Chief Secretary, Odisha and Home Secretary, West Bengal participated in the meeting through video conference. Senior officers from the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, Shipping, Power, Telecommunications, Health, IMD, NDMA and NDRF also attended the meeting.
The NCMC will meet again to take stock of the emerging situation, the statement said.
Cyclone 'Amphan' has developed into a super cyclone over the Bay of Bengal on Monday and has the potential to cause extensive damage in the coastal districts of West Bengal when it makes landfall, the government had said.
This is the second super cyclone over the Bay of Bengal in two decades.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall on the West Bengal coast in the afternoon of May 20 between Digha in West Bengal and Hatia island in Bangladesh as an extremely severe cyclonic storm.
The cyclone has the potential to cause extensive damage in the coastal districts of West Bengal, the government said.
'Amphan' will cause heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal, it added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday had reviewed the situation arising from the cyclone and assured all possible assistance from the central government.
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Upa Lokayukta raids uncover alleged ₹200 crore government land scam in Mandya; five officials arrest
Bengaluru: A search conducted by Lokayukta police on the directions of B Veerappa have exposed an alleged scam involving the illegal transfer of government land worth around ₹200 crore in Nagamangala taluk of Mandya district, officials said.
According to The New Indian Express, Nagamangala taluk office allegedly forged, tampered with and fabricated documents to transfer about 320 acres of government gomal land to private individuals under the pretext of allotments through the Bagair Hukum Committee (BHC).
Acting on a tip-off about the racket involved in usurping the gomal land, the Upa Lokayukta issued warrants on Tuesday to conduct searches at seven places, including the residences of the persons involved, the government guest house, a hotel and the taluk office in Nagamangala, the assembly segment represented by Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy.
Following the recovery of incriminating documents, a complaint was filed by the Lokayukta police, based on which Nagamangala police registered a First Information Report (FIR) citing criminal conspiracy, cheating, dishonesty, tampering, fraudulently using forged documents, theft and criminal breach of trust.
Five officials of the land records branch were arrested. They have been identified as second division assistants Satish H V and Gurumurthy, shirastedars Ravishankara and Umesh, and Darakastu village assistant S Yogesh.
“The act of the officials shocks the consciousness of this authority,” said Upa Lokayukta Justice Veerappa.
A statement from the Lokayukta office said that prima facie, it was found that the accused fabricated documents, such as Saguvali Chit, grant ledgers and other land records were created in the Darakastu land records section to illegally transfer gomal land in villages including H N Kavalu, Chikkajataka, Doddajataka and Karadahalli in Nagamangala taluk.
Applications seeking grant of land were found in the car belonging to village assistant Yogesh. When the Lokayukta police, headed by Superintendent of Police Suresh Babu, questioned Yogesh, he revealed that records room staffers Vijay Kumar, Satish and Yashavanth, along with deed writer Chinnaswamy, were diverting government land since 2020.
The seized records disclosed that entries in the land grant ledger had been tampered with to add new names. While BHC rules allow a maximum allotment of 4 acres and 38 guntas per beneficiary, records showed that 9 acres and 27 guntas were allotted to one Prakrul Khan and 11 acres and 23 guntas to Kaleem Mulla. However, these entries are not found in the original records kept in the records room, where the search was conducted.
Further investigation is under way, officials said.
