BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has assured that it will release the assistance for the damage inflicted by very severe cyclone Titli, and subsequent flood and landslides in 17 districts of the State soon, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said here on Saturday.
The assurance was given by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh when Naveen spoke to him over phone during the day. “Chief Minister spoke to the Union Home Minister over phone on Saturday and discussed the financial assistance for Titli. The Union Home Minister assured the Chief Minister to release the assistance immediately,” a release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Naveen, in a letter to Singh on December 13, had demanded an immediate release of Central assistance for the devastation caused by the very severe cyclone in Odisha. Naveen said Titli that hit Odisha in October had caused subsequent flood and landslides and severely affected a population of about 60.31 lakh in 128 blocks of 17 districts.
The State Government had earlier submitted a memorandum to the Centre seeking the assistance of Rs 2,023.13 crore against the total requirement of Rs 2,779.32 crore for relief and restoration work. The Chief Minister had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 18 requesting for release of an interim assistance of Rs 1,000 crore pending the final decision of the high-level committee headed by Rajnath on the memorandum which was submitted by the State Government in October.
Meanwhile, the inter-ministerial Central team has already made an on-the-spot assessment of the damage during the first week of November 2018. The State urgently required assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) as the entire amount Rs 1,689.13 crore in State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) was exhausted for relief and restoration works.
At the high-level committee meeting held in New Delhi on December 6, a decision was taken to sanction Central assistance of Rs 3048.39 crore to Kerala, Rs 131.16 crore to Nagaland and Rs 539.52 crore to Andhra Pradesh which was affected by floods, landslides and cyclone. However, Odisha’s case was not considered in the meeting. The case of Andhra Pradesh, affected by Titli, was considered.
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