Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee slammed the meteorological department for its failure to inform the state government about the direction Cyclone Aila was likely to take. Bhattacharjee said this in a statement placed in the state Assembly on Thursday.

“The Met department on May 24 could not give us the right forecast about Cyclone Aila that lashed north and south Bengal on May 25. On May 24, it just warned us that the cyclone would pass by 100 km east of the Sagar Islands on May 25 and for that only the coastal areas of the districts of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore will be affected. And it was on May 25 that the state government was informed that the cyclone was moving to Kolkata,” the statement said.

The chief minister also said that the state government tackled the disaster on a war footing. “On the day the cyclonic storm lashed the city and the districts, I was reviewing the situation with other ministers and officers that could arise following the disaster and the measures to be taken to tackle it. We decided that Army will have to be requisitioned for rescue and air-dropping of dry food. And on May 26, in Darjeeling district, 26 people died in landslides,” the statement said.

While 138 people died because of the cyclonic storm, 1,93,890 people are still staying at 485 relief camps. The government is still running 593 medical camps, according to the statement.

The chief minister also said that the state government had requested the Centre to sanction Rs 1,000 crore for relief and rehabilitation. It has also requested the Centre to declare it a “National Disaster”.