India sends troops to help clean up cyclone-hit Kolkata

Protests erupt as authorities, hobbled by the pandemic, struggle to restore power, water

Indian soldiers helping to clear away uprooted trees in Kolkata, in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan, yesterday. About 200 soldiers joined more than 4,000 disaster relief personnel and local volunteers working on the streets, said a military officer.
Indian soldiers helping to clear away uprooted trees in Kolkata, in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan, yesterday. About 200 soldiers joined more than 4,000 disaster relief personnel and local volunteers working on the streets, said a military officer. The storm also damaged century-old trees in one of Asia's oldest botanic gardens. PHOTO: REUTERS

KOLKATA • The Indian Army has been mobilised to help with clean-up operations after a devastating cyclone hit the eastern city of Kolkata, as thousands yesterday protested again over power and water shortages.

At least 112 people were killed in eastern India and Bangladesh after Cyclone Amphan - the strongest storm to hit the region since 1999 - struck last Wednesday. Streets were flooded in Kolkata, home to 15 million people, while power lines were brought down and fallen trees blocked roads.

The authorities, already grappling with the coronavirus, struggled to clear roads - some of which remained flooded - and restore electricity and water to homes.

Police used batons to disperse the protesters as Ms Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal - of which Kolkata is the capital - called for calm.

"This is a huge disaster. We need to have patience, because nobody has seen such a disaster before," she said. "We are not sitting idle... A shortage of manpower stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic is hobbling relief and restoration efforts."

About 200 soldiers from the Indian Army's Eastern Command have joined more than 4,000 disaster relief personnel and local volunteers working on the streets, a military officer told Agence France-Presse.

One of Asia's oldest botanic gardens was not spared by the cyclone, with more than 1,000 trees uprooted and hundreds more damaged, officials said. "It ravaged the more than two-centuries-old Great Banyan Tree, one of the main attractions," said Mr Kanak Das, director of Kolkata's Indian Botanical Garden, founded in 1786 by an East India Company officer. "The pride of the garden is lost."

The popular century-old Baobab Tree and the "Mad Tree" - which locals say has leaves that appear to take different shapes - were also uprooted.

The cyclone also smashed into the Sundarbans, a Unesco world heritage site straddling India and Bangladesh famed for its mangrove forest, destroying farms and livelihoods.

Ms Banerjee, who visited the Suburbans last Saturday, said the embankments of at least 25 rivers were breached, affecting at least 700 villages. She warned that "large swathes of the Suburbans could turn infertile as saline water starts seeping into the fields".

Mr Gobbing Mondale, 35, who lives in a remote village, said the cyclone had "undone years of progress in curbing poverty in the coastal areas of the state".

"We are lost," he added.

AGENCY FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 25, 2020, with the headline India sends troops to help clean up cyclone-hit Kolkata. Subscribe