Former chief secretary of West Bengal Alapan Bandyopdhayay on Thursday replied to the Centre's show-cause notice served to him under the Disaster Management Act to explain his absence from the cyclone review meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28, an official said.

In his reply, Bandyopadhyay said that as per the directive of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he left the meeting for a review of Cyclone Yaas ravaged Digha, a popular sea resort town in Purba Medinipur district, according to the highly-placed official in the secretariat.