BHUBANESWAR: Under fire from Opposition for allegedly suppressing facts on human casualties in cyclone and floods, the State Government on Wednesday admitted that at least 52 persons have lost their lives in the twin calamities.“The State Government has information about 52 deaths as of now. The casualties were mainly due to landslide, wall collapse, drowning and tree felling during cyclone Titli and the subsequent floods,” Chief Secretary Aditya Padhi told reporters after a review meeting here.
While 39 deaths were reported fro worst-affected Gajapati district, 12 were from Ganjam and one from Kandhamal district, he said.Special Relief Commissioner BP Sethi said the toll may increase as reports from four other districts - Angul, Nayagarh, Cuttack and Keonjhar - was not included.
Informing that 10 more persons are still missing, Padhi said a clear picture will emerge once the administration gathers information about them. Ten persons went missing after a landslide in Gajapati district.As per preliminary assessment, the loss suffered in different sectors, including infrastructure and agriculture, was estimated at around Rs 2,200 crore. It will take a day or two to get full report on the total loss incurred due to the disaster, Padhi said.
Noting that relief and restoration works are in progress in the affected areas, the Chief Secretary said 90 pc of the damaged roads have been repaired and power and drinking water supply have been restored in urban areas. It will take a couple of days to restore power and pipe water supply in rural areas. He said most of the tube-wells in the flood affected areas have been made functional while work is still in progress to bring back normalcy”.
Of the total damage estimates, the road damage is estimated to be Rs 500 crore, electricity systems Rs 133 crore, houses Rs 150 crore while Rs 233 crore crop damage has been estimated on the basis of the input subsidy cost, Padhi added. A complete report on the loss of property and crops will be known by October 20, he stated.
A senior government official said the restoration and relief operations were being carried out using State Disaster Response Funds. The State will approach the Centre for necessary assistance after ‘exact assessment’ of the damages, he clarified.As many as 16 of the 30 districts of the State were ravaged by cyclonic storm accompanied by heavy rains and floods mostly affecting the south-western part of the State.
Relief aid in cash for Titli affected victims
Bhubaneswar: The State Government has decided pay the gratuitous relief of Rs 102 crore to the cyclone affected people in cash. The assistance will be paid to the beneficiaries in Gajapati, Ganjam and Rayagada districts. Accordingly the State Government decided to provide advance cash of Rs 1,050 to NFSA and SFSS beneficiaries in Gajapati towards gratuitous relief. The cash amount for worst affected areas of Ganjam will be Rs 2,000. For other areas of Ganjam and Gunupur in Rayagada the advance cash will be Rs 1,000. For people not covered under NFSA and SFSS, the cash will be provided after proper verification.
“The amount is required to be credited to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. However, with banking network remaining poor in many gram panchayats, using DBT will deprive a number of affected people,” said Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi. The government at present has announced that affected families of Ganjam, Gajapati and Gunupur sub-division of Rayagada will get relief for 15 days at the rate of Rs 60 per adult and Rs 45 per child per day. Officials said, Rs 11 cr has been released for 1,04,681 families of Gajapati, Rs 89.6 cr for 5,97,021 families of Ganjam and Rs 1.4 crore for 14,000 families of Rayagada.