THE movement of Nargis, the cyclone, is all set to raise the heat in Chennai in the next few days. Nargis, situated 550 km eastnortheast of Chennai, is predicted to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm and move towards the northerly direction and then turn northeast towards Bangladesh. This effectively means hopes of rain that people harboured, looking at cloudy skies, have been dashed. Chennai is unlikely to get even the isolated showers or thundershowers predicted earlier.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member M. Shashishar Reddy, who holds the rank of Union minister of state, has said that the National Cyclone Disaster Management Institute (NCDMI) will be established as an exclusive institutional set up in a coastal state. This assumes significance owing to India's vulnerability to cyclones. Most often, cyclones turn destructive because of torrential rain, gales and storm surges.

The US$ 50 million livelihood restoration project for cyclone Sidr-affected people will be launched this month, with four worst affected upazilas being covered in the first phase. The second phase would be the formal project launch, which would take place simultaneously in all the proposed unions by the end of June this year, said a World Bank information note. Social Development Foundation (SDF) will implement the project to meet the emergency need to support restoration of livelihoods with financial assistance from the World Bank.

Representative of the World Food Programme (WFP) Douglas Broderick said that his organisation would continue support to partner Bangladesh in satisfying its food requirements.

A farmer was killed in Austagram upazila in Kishoreganj district as hailstorm hit the district on Tuesday evening. Hailstorm in Kaliganj upazila in Jhenidah district caused serious damage to crops and mango buds. Nobi Hossain, 55, of Deoghar village of Alinagar union of the upazila, was working at his Boro paddy field in the haor area when hailstorm hit, leaving him dead on the spot, reports our Kishoreganj correspondent.

PRATTVILLE, Ala. (AP)

The West Bengal government has offered 111 truckloads of rice and other relief material for the victims of recent cyclone in Bangladesh, days after the Indian envoy ruled out easing of a ban on export of cheap rice to allow supplies to Dhaka. "Being a neighbouring country we feel great attachment with Bangladesh for similarity of language,' West Bengal minister for transport, sports and youth Subhash Chakravarty said after handing over relief material to Bangladesh's food and disaster management ministry yesterday. The relief goods for the victims of the November cyclone included 1,010 tonnes of rice, 50 tonnes of wheat, 7,500 pieces of blankets, 10,000 pieces of sarees and 6,000 mosquito nets. The minister, who was accompanied by litterateurs Sunil Ganguly and Abul Bashar, actor Biswajit, Sumitra Mitra, Amar Pal and other eminent personalities, promised to construct 1,000 houses in cyclone-affected areas. The gesture came two days after Indian High Commissioner here defended New Delhi's decision to re-impose restrictions on the export of the foodgrain priced below $510 a tonne.