Cyclone Aila has forced the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) to draw up new safety norms for billboards, which include a ban on sheet metal hoardings.

Over 1,000 billboards were destroyed by the wind and found hanging precariously from buildings and gantries across the city.

The sheet metal roofs of several bus shelters were also blown off.

THE DAY AFTER

Pune The onset of southwest monsoon in the state is likely only after June 1. Though monsoon started in Kerala a week in advance, the cyclone Aila weakened the pressure.

According to the Met officers, the cyclone has weakened the pressure of the monsoon winds and it will take atleast a week to recover.

On Saturday, the India Meteorological Department declared that the monsoon had set in over Kerala more than a week ahead of its usual date. An early start to the rainy season will be especially welcome in this southern State where last year

ANISUR RAHMAN, DHAKA
At least 62 people were killed as Cyclone

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakhs to the kin of each of those killed in the cyclone, which hit eastern part of the country, even as the Centre mobilised the disaster relief mechanism to meet the situation.

AKSHAYA KUMAR SAHOO, BHUBANESWAR
Around 2,000 people were on Monday evacuated to safer places as turbulent tidal waves breached marine embankments at nines places, causing severe damage to human habitations and agricultural lands in villages under Rajnagar and Mahakalpara blocks in Orissa

Air services at the Kolkata airport collapsed like never before over the past two decades due to the impact of Cyclone Aila.

Train services both in Howrah and Sealdah sections were also heavily disrupted.

The air operations at the Kolkata airport were completely halted for over five hours due to inclement weather conditions.

KAUSHIK PRADHAN, KOLKATA
At least 20 per sons were killed after Cyclone Aila hit West Bengal

At least 23 people were killed and more than 100,000 people hit, as a cyclone spawned by a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal pounded large parts of West Bengal and coastal Orissa today, leaving a trail of devastation and crippling normal life in the two states.

However, the good news from the Met department is that cyclone Aila has started gradually weakening.