Cyclone victims again erupted in anger in front of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, accusing his Government of not doing enough for the people of Sunderbans.

Trouble began at the Sandelerbil ABS High School in Hingalganj where the Chief Minister halted during his trip to the cyclone-ravaged areas of North 24-Parganas. Gopal Mondal, a schoolteacher from an affected village, led the charge telling the CM: “In the past 32 years your Government has done nothing. I have lost my mother, I have lost my father. I have lost everything.” The Chief Minister tried to reason with him saying: “I will give you an account of what this Government has done for the Sunderbans.”

But the crowd, battered by the cyclone and total lack of any relief and rehabilitation measures, was in no mood to hear him. A bare-bodied, lungi-clad villager shouted from the crowd: “Down with your official accounts. We know what those are made of...all lies.”

Mrinal Kanti Modal, another teacher, backed him: “Just go and look at the embankments on the other side of the border in Bangladesh. They drive cars on the embankments. We can’t even ride cycles on this side. It is a shame. Every year crores of rupees are spent and everyone knows where the funds go... the Irrigation Department does not even have an office here. Sahebs (officers) come here occasionally and vanish like the embankments with every high tide.”

There were also grumblings over the money given for building houses. “You give us only Rs 6,000 for building houses. Tell us, do such houses withstand a year’s cyclone or heavy rains?” asked Biplab Koyal, another villager.

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