န 24000 homeless in Sunderbans

Kolkata, Canning, 27 May : The cyclone Aila has left more than 24,000 people homeless in the Sunderbans on Monday. The most affected islands are Dayapur, Jamespur, Annpore and Lahiripur, lying close to the Sajnekhali forest in the Sunderbans.Animesh Sinha, who runs an NGO, Sunderbans Environment and Ecological Development Society, said his office opposite the Sajnekhali forest office, had been inundated on Sunday night. "There was inside the room was around six feet deep. The worse is yet to come," he said. The high tide had left most of the villages inundated. The force of the gushing water was so high in the morning that most of the mud and bamboo walls collapsed. "Only the tall trees could be seen, everything else was under water. The embankment has broken at three places, leaving the villages exposed to the river," said Sinha.The Sunderbans Tiger Reserve field director, Subrata Mukherjee, said most of the camps in the forests were inundated after the heavy rainfall that followed the cyclone. "Boats have sunk. We have taken the help of BSF at some places. Control rooms have been set up at Canning and Gosaba. We have also asked some NGOs to provide relief to the people."