Central team in Kolkata to assess cyclone damage

With killer cyclone Aila leaving a trail of massive destruction in West Bengal, a central team headed by a senior Home Ministry official arrived here on Saturday to assess the damage. The 11-member central team led by Ashok Lavasa, joint secretary in the ministry will visit the affected areas to take stock of the loss to life and property in the aftermath of the cyclone which hit the state on May 25.
    
The team's visit follows Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee's request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to send such a team and sanction Rs 1,000 crore for relief and restoration work. The team will split into groups and visit the worst affected areas of North and South 24 Parganas as also landslide hit places of Darjeeling district.
    
The state government has prepared a memorandum on the basis of detailed inputs of destruction. The chief minister had also met Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee here in support of his demand. The cyclone has claimed 133 lives and affected 87 lakh people in different districts.