Though the committee, formed under the chairmanship of Late Professor A.K. Saha, had made recommendations pertaining to the national cyclone code and the storm preparedness action plan to the Centre and governments of coastal states, very little has been heard about its execution, former member-secretary Dr D.K. Rakshit said on Friday.

He was addressing a discussion `Supercyclone in Orissa How to mitigate the people's sufferings' at Jadavpur University here. The recommendations included acquiring an aircraft to monitor cyclones and three-dimensional actual field measurements, which are required to issue more reliable forecast of wind and the associated ``storm surge'' (highgale coupled with sea tides) after a cyclone is initially detected with the help of a satellite, Rakshit said.

``The Air Force promised to foot the running cost and the Defence (Ministry) okayed the move. It also reached the Cabinet level and the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi evinced keen interest in the project. But nothing has been heard about it ever since,'' he pointed out. Also, he added, recommendations to the Central Government and coastal state governments in respect of a cyclone emergency action plan and community preparedness against the storms which envisaged setting up of a snap-proof telecommunication channel and construction of cyclone shelters in coastal areas had not been pursued.

Director of Alipore Meteorological Office R.N. Goldar, who was also present, agreed that only a community preparedness plan against cyclones could lessen the sufferings of people. According to him, volunteers should be trained at the panchayat level and supplied with guidelines to combat the cyclone fury intime. He also stressed the need for a ``foolproof communication system, which would not be hampered by terrestrial disturbances''.

Goldar said that if any severe cyclonic storm hit the WB coast, it would cause more devastation than the Orissa supercyclone, with the possible storm surge ranging between 8.5 to 12.5 metres as against the 2.5 to 9.5-metre surge recorded in Orissa. A storm surge could even inundate the entire Sunderbans, including Sagar islands, and the coastal areas of Midnapore.

``The Sunderbans,'' Goldar pointed out, ``is thickly populated, consisting of rivers and rivulets, and next to impossible to evacuate the entire population in an emergency. Thus the only measure is to construct specially designed cyclone shelters as possible.''