Sunderbans islanders are caught between a shameless North and a callous South THE district administration in southern West Bengal got the warning for Aila, the cyclone to hit Sagar Island, about 20 hours in advance (see
Water accumulated in a Sunderbans village flows into a dam damaged by the Aila. Amit Datta
Calcutta, June 25: The cyclone had swamped their land and blown away their homes. A month on, thousands still live under the sky in Aila-swept Sunderbans.
A month after cyclone Aila hit the state and caused a large-scale devastation to the island hamlets of the Sunderbans, residents of the area are still reeling under a shortage of food and other relief material.
Three problems have made the world's largest mangrove forest the Sundrbans have become unprotected.
The problems are necessary manpower to guard the home of world famous Royal Bengal tiger, maximum number of water vessels of the forest are not in shape and dearth of fuel has put the officers and employees into trouble.
As no clear picture of changes in vegetation or micro flora and fauna in the Sunderbans is available, the state forest department is contemplating carrying out a thorough survey in the area soon.
The department will send a proposal to the Centre for conducting the survey jointly with the Zoological Survey of India and Botanical Survey of India for a timespan of at least two years.
KOLKATA 16 June: Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi today said the Union government was contemplating an action plan to address the issues of climate change and global warming.
