BHUBANESWAR : Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and requested him for central assistance of Rs 10,500 crore to the state to build cyclone resilient infrastructures.
Pujari met Shah at his Parliament office on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum focused on strengthening the state’s infrastructure to combat frequent natural calamities.
Pujari submitted five proposals to Shah, emphasising the need for enhanced financial and technical supports to make the state disaster resilient and ensure safety of life and property of people in the vulnerable coastal regions.
The proposals include construction of 500 cyclone/flood shelters across disaster-prone districts involving a cost of Rs 2,000 crore, Rs 8,363 crore for developing disaster-resilient electricity infrastructure crucial for maintaining power during the time of disaster and Rs 200 crore towards upgradation of the existing early warning systems.
Pujari further requested Shah for facilitating financial grant either from central schemes or through Asian Development Bank for prevention of coastal erosion and protection of livelihoods of people in the coastal region.
He requested for central government’s approval for appointment of a national-level organisation for undertaking scientific survey in strategic locations of Odisha coast, cost-benefit analysis of the proposed projects and arranging funds for execution of these projects.
Pujari also met Union Minister of Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the day and briefed him about the steps taken by the state government on the the implementation of the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP). He submitted a project proposal worth Rs 984 crore to Chouhan with a request for necessary technical support by the central government to expedite survey and geo-referencing of cadastral maps in Odisha.