Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who will visit Jogeshgunj in North 24-Parganas district on Saturday to meet people affected by Cyclone Aila, will fly to New Delhi next week to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Apart from seeking Rs 1,000 crore for relief and restoration work in the areas devastated by the tropical storm, Bhattacharjee will present the plan to build a permanent concrete river embankment in Sunderbans to the Prime Minister.

“The CM has taken stock of the situation of the affected areas before going to Delhi to take up the issue with the Prime Minister and demand relief assistance for the affected people,” Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar told mediapersons after attending a high-level meeting with the chief minister.

A central team has already visited the affected areas in South and North 24 Parganas districts as requested by Bhattacharjee.

Giving an assessment on constructing the 3,500-km long concrete embankment in the Sundarbans that will prevent loss of lives and property every year in cyclones and floods, Naskar said the project would cost about Rs 20,000 crore, including the price of land to be

acquired.

Sundarbans Affairs Minister Kanti Ganguly said that all-party assembly delegation had twice made representations to the Centre, while a team of the Asian Development Bank made a study, but nothing had materialised. “The priority now is reconstruction and desalination of water bodies with the help of NGOs,” Ganguly said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Communications and IT Gurudas Kamath will visit the cyclone affected areas on Thursday to take stock of the damage to the communication systems.

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