PURI: The Central team visited Fani ravaged blocks of Puri district for the second time on June 21.
The 11-member inter-ministerial team led by Union Home Affairs Additional Secretary (PM) Vivek Bhardwaj visited Biragobindpur and nearby villages under Satyabadi block and Harekrushnapur village in Puri Sadar block and interacted with affected families over crop damage including coconut farms, cashew nut orchards and paddy crops.
Later in a meeting with Collector Balwant Singh, they were apprised about the extent of damage, loss of crops and cattle and efforts to provide relief and restoration work.
Singh presented a report on efforts of the district administration to minimise the cyclone damage, post-cyclone relief and rehabilitation work.
Singh told the members that two ODRAF, three NDRF and 12 units of fire brigade personnel were deployed across Puri district while hundreds of families were shifted to 357 multiple cyclone shelters before Fani hit the coast.
As many as 19 lakh people belonging to 1,772 villages were affected while 2.78 lakh houses and 1,180 boats were damaged.
At least 32 medical teams and 45 veterinary units were deployed in the district for curbing water-borne diseases and provide treatment.
The Collector told the Central team that steps are being taken for restoration works and reconstruction of damaged houses and public properties.
Apart from the Central team members, the secretary of Commerce and Transport Department G Srinivas, Director of Agriculture S Muthu Kumar and DRDA Project Director Vishal Singh were present in the meetings.
Earlier, the Collector had pegged the loss caused by Fani at `5003.14 lakh in his report.
This included 33 lakh hectare of agriculture land, 2,78,762 houses, 160 school buildings, 564 classrooms and 1000 fishing boats which were damaged by the cyclone.
Besides, 1,796 cattle, 1,400 goat and sheep were killed in the cyclone.
Post-cyclone
Union Home Affairs Additional Secretary (PM) Vivek Bhardwaj leads 11-member inter-ministerial Central team
The team took stock of the situation in Harekrushnapur, Biragobindapur, Satyabadi
It inspected damaged coconut farms in Sakhigopal