Kolkata, Oct 24 (IANS): The ferry services in the coastal Sundarbans area scattered over South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal have been suspended for Thursday and Friday as a measure of precaution amid the landfall of Cyclone Dana.

Dana is likely to make landfall sometime between Thursday night and early Friday morning in Odisha between Bhitarkanika in Kendrapara district and Dhamra in Bhadrak district, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

District administration sources said that the coastal areas of Sundarbans were majorly affected because of Cyclone Aila in 2009 and Cyclone Amphan in 2020.

“Although there had been assurances from the Regional Meteorological Office in Kolkata that the impact of Cyclone Dana is likely to be nowhere near that of Cyclone Aila and Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal, we are not taking any risk and are taking similar precautions as was done on occasions of previous cyclones, The suspension of ferry services in coastal Sundarbans is a part of those precautionary measures,” said a district administration official.

At the same time, said the official, the district administration officials are inspecting the conditions of the river embankments at coastal Sundarbans on a regular basis and preventing the common people from getting on those embankments till the time the crisis period is over.

People residing in remote areas in the islands scattered over coastal Sundarbans have been evacuated to safe places. The temporary relief centres in the areas have been made fully operational already, the district administration official said.

Meanwhile, light to medium rainfall has started in certain districts in South Bengal, especially in the two coastal districts of South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore. The wind speeds in these two districts are also quite high.

Even there had been spells of showers in the state capital of Kolkata, though its frequency and quantum had been nominal at the time the report was filed.

In the sea resorts of East Midnapore district like Digha and Mandarmani, the district administration officials are reportedly having a tough time preventing some adventurous tourists from venturing near the beaches.

“Bamboo barricades have been raised for that purpose. Although, we advised the tourists to leave these sea resorts by Wednesday night, some over-enthusiastic ones have stayed back to have the feel of the Cyclone in coastal areas,” an East Midnapore district administrative official said.