Mamata Banerjee’s decision to seek army help good move: Bengal Governor

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday described chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to seek the army’s deployment to restore infrastructure in Kolkata damaged by cyclone Amphan as “a good move”.

“A good move @MamataOfficial to seek support and assistance of Army. These are trying time and appeal to people to keep calm. Authorities must restore connectivity, electricity and other services at the earliest,” Dhankhar tweeted.

The Defence Ministry on Saturday sanctioned five columns of the army to restore infrastructure in state capital Kolkata following a request by the state government.

The army was also deployed in North and South 24 Parganas districts which have been badly hit by the cyclone, a Defence official said according to PTI.

The Governor, whose differences with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress Congress government run deep, had surveyed the cyclone damage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chief minister on Friday.

The cyclone has caused widespread damage to infrastructure in Kolkata and other places. Several areas of Kolkata were rocked by protests on Saturday as residents took to the streets as many localities remained without water and power since the cyclone swept through southern Bengal on Wednesday.

People armed with placards blocked roads with empty buckets and utensils.

The protesters said they are under extreme hardship as there was no electricity and water for the past three days and repeated calls to power utilities CESC and WBSEDCL went unanswered.