BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday demanded a long term assistance of Rs 17,000 crore from the Centre to create a disaster resistant Odisha.
The issue was raised by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. The Prime Minister made an aerial survey of the areas devastated by the extremely severe cyclone Fani and reviewed the situation at the airport.
The State Government made a presentation for the Prime Minister regarding the devastation caused by the cyclone. Naveen demanded an assistance of Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre to create a disaster resistant power infrastructure in Odisha as it is pounded by severe cyclones at regular interval.
He also demanded Rs 7000 crore for making five lakh kutcha houses disaster resistant. The Central and State contribution for the project should be 90 and 10 per cent respectively. He proposed that the Centre should also develop disaster resistant telecom infrastructure in coastal Odisha.
Stating that natural calamities every year have affected the economy of Odisha, the Chief Minister said the State Government has to spend a huge amount to face these and take up reconstruction work. He said Odisha’s development would have been faster but for the natural calamities and drew the Prime Minister’s attention to the demand for granting special category State status to Odisha. Odisha faced Phailin in 2013, Hudhud in 2014, drought in 2015, Titli in 2018 and now the extremely severe tropical storm Fani, he said.
The Chief Minister said Odisha has been acclaimed worldwide for minimising human casualties during successive cyclones. “Now, we (Centre and the State) should work towards making Odisha world class in tackling natural calamities,” he said.
In view of the extensive damage caused by the Fani, the Chief Minister demanded an interim assistance of `1000 crore from the Centre to which the Prime Minister agreed.