Reports from Gosaba in the Sunderbans said the headmaster of a school desperately called up district officials and newspaper offices, claiming that nearly 3,000 people who had taken shelter in three school buildings were in danger of being swept away following a steady rise in the water level. “We have no access to drinking water and food and the sea water which has been gushing into the villages after breaching the river embankments, could sweep us away any moment,” the headmaster of Adarsh Vidaylay S Khan reportedly pleaded.
Two Army columns, one each in Sandeshkhali and Kultali of North and South 24 Parganas districts, have been carrying out rescue and relief operations, defence spokesman Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani said.
Six more Army columns, which were on stand-by, have been advised to start work while two MI-17 helicopters have been air-dropping food packets in the hardest hit areas of the districts,Upasani said.
The IAF has also kept its transport aircraft and helicopters of the Eastern fleet on standby.
A 200-member Army contingent, including doctors, are engaged in rescuing and evacuating people in the two districts, defence sources said.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee visited Kakdwip and toured the devastated villages in South 24 Parganas district.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who visited Joynagar and Kultali areas in the same district, instructed officials to initiate relief and rescue operation on a war footing.
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