BHUBANESWAR: Even as Odisha Government on Wednesday pegged the preliminary Fani damage estimate at Rs 11,942 crore, a Central team, which completed its assessment, praised the State for its commendable restoration measures post-cyclone.
The Government said a detailed memorandum will be submitted to the Centre after estimation of actual loss incurred.
“We will take time to prepare a detailed memorandum as reports of damage are still coming from the districts,” Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi told media persons after a wrap-up meeting with the Central team.
Lauding relief and rehabilitation measures undertaken by the State Government, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Vivek Bharadwaj, who led the inter-ministerial team, said the Centre is ready to lend all support to rebuild the State. “This is for the first time a Central team visited a calamity-affected State within a week’s time without a formal invitation from the Government. An 11-member inter-ministerial team of the Centre, led by Bharadwaj, arrived here on May 12 and conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the situation while winding up its visit on Wednesday.
During the wrap-up meeting, the State urged the Centre to revise the norms of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to expand the area of assistance, especially to the power sector.
“We requested the Central team to expand the area of assistance, especially for the power sector where damage is estimated to be around Rs 1,945 crore. This requires revision in NDRF and SDRF norms,” Padhi said. As per the exiting norms, only lower transmission (LT) lines up to 11 KV capacity are covered under disaster relief.
Since a large number of high tension (HT) and extra-high tension (EHT) towers have been damaged in the cyclone, the State Government urged the inter-ministerial team to take up the matter with the Home Ministry for necessary changes in the relief code.
Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi gave a brief account of the damage in the affected district to the inter-ministerial team.
The Chief Secretary said the Government had prepared a memorandum on the damage ahead of the visit of the Central team for their verification. A comprehensive damage report of all departments will be prepared after door-to-door survey, which started from Wednesday.
The Government further requested the Centre to enhance the quantum of assistance being given to poultry farmers since they have been affected more by the natural calamity, said Sethi.
During its three-day stay, the team visited affected areas of Cuttack, Khurda and Puri districts.