By IANS,
Kolkata : Cyclone Aila that devastated parts of West Bengal last month damaged solar power panels worth Rs.50 crore (Rs.500 million) in the Sundarbans, an official said here Friday.
“We’ve estimated that a huge bulk of solar panel devices worth Rs.50 crore was completely damaged due to cyclone Aila last week in Sundarbans,” the managing director of West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Ltd, S.P Gon Chowdhury told reporters on the sidelines of a enviromental conference.
“Nearly 60,000 individual solar panels, bio-mass and 21 clusters of solar lighting systems were damaged due to the cyclone,” he said, adding that the solar clusters were repaired later.
He said the maximum damage took place in islands like Patharpratima, Higalganj, Sagar and Sandeshkhali.
“The central and the state governments have already taken up initiatives to rebuild these solar equipments in Sundarbans,” Chowdhury said.
Cyclone Aila tore through extensive parts of West Bengal May 25, levelling houses, uprooting trees, snapping power cables and leaving a trail of destruction in 13 of its 19 districts.