Cyclone Aila dealt a heavy blow to the state food processing and horticulture department, in terms of the department incurring a loss of Rs 101.62 crore from the damage caused by the storm in the districts of North and South 24-Parganas.

Cyclone Aila, that hit parts of West Bengal last month, has damaged flowers and betel vines cultivated in six districts ~ Midnapore East, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, Birbhum, Nadia and Burdwan ~ and the loss is estimated at Rs 13 crore, according to a preliminary assessment done by the state horticulture department.

KOLKATA, 31 May: Following in the footsteps of Rajiv Gandhi, railway minister Miss Mamata Banerjee (photograph right) today insisted that the Central assistance should reach directly to zilla parishads and they should distribute the funds through panchayat samities and gram panchayats.

Ananya Dutta

KOLKATA: The city and some districts, devastated by cyclone Aila on Monday, are yet to come to terms with the reality, even as the death toll shot up to 82. Fresh areas in the north were reeling under the impact of the cyclone

Ananya Dutta
KOLKATA: Twenty-three persons were killed when a severe cyclonic storm accompanied by heavy rain brought by Cyclone Aila lashed the city and some districts of West Bengal on Monday. The death toll could be higher: reports from the districts were only coming in. Many people were injured.

Rajib Chakraborty

Ishita Ayan Dutt / New Delhi/ Kolkata April 20, 2009, 0:01 IST

Bhushan Steel has informally approached the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) for an additional 1,000 acres in West Bengal, in the wake of negotiations with Sumitomo Metal Industries (SMI) for participation in its steel project.

Marsh Mongoose Herpestes palustris is the only extant endemic mammal of the East Kolkata wetlands, which has been declared a RAMSAR site in 2002. Since its first description by the scientists of the Zoological Survey of India, the population of this species has dwindled to an alarming state due to reclamation of the Salt Lake City and Rajarhat expansion, as well as from other anthropogenic causes. Recently, during a field survey only a small population of this endangered mongoose was found in a single location.

BARASAT: Social workers expressed grave concern over arsenic pollution which has been affecting vegetation in the area.

Manob Chetona, an organisation in Sodepur Natagarh near Kharda in North 24-Parganas, has taken up a programme to spread awareness about conservation of water among the masses.

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