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More than 600 fishermen have gone missing after Tuesday's cyclone, according to the West Bengal government.
At least 51 of them are feared drowned because their trawlers have reportedly capsized in the sea.
There are reports of ten trawlers capsizing off the coast of Midnapore (west) and South 24 Pargana districts during the cyclone, which caused little damage on land, state Fisheries Minister Kiranmoy Nanda said on Wednesday in Kolkata.
The rest of the fishermen, said to be on some 50 trawlers and fishing boats, have not been sighted by any of the Coast Guard vessels or helicopters, he said.
"The warnings [from the meteorological office] did not go out as early as we would have liked them to," Nanda said.
Anxious relatives of the missing fishermen also claim that they did not receive the warnings in time.
Apprehending trouble in the fishermen's villages in Digha in Midnapore (west), policemen have been posted.
The government is trying to send radio messages to the missing trawlers, but so far, there has been no response.
Officials said this could be because the vessels have strayed beyond the reception limit.
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