NEW DELHI: The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is deploying four additional teams to West Bengal to speed up restoration work in the aftermath of super cyclone Amphan, SN Pradhan, Director General of the force said on Thursday.
He said the teams are being airlifted to Kolkata on the request of the West Bengal government and should reach the city by a late evening around 8:30 pm on an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft.
Addressing a press conference, Pradhan said a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) under the cabinet assessed the impact of the cyclone and requirements of the states that have been battered by it.
The meeting was also attended by the chief secretaries of Odisha and West Bengal. The Odisha government informed that life would start coming back to normal in the affected areas within 24-48 hours as 90 per cent of power and telecom connectivity was restored.
From the preliminary input received from the West Bengal government, it seems that the impact of the cyclone has been significant, he added.
Pradhan said the West Bengal chief secretary asked for four additional NDRF teams and the Centre agreed immediately to dispatch the teams.