BHUBANESWAR: The state government will submit cyclone damage assessment report to the Centre along with the demand for Central assistance for Bulbul-hit districts by end of next week.
The decision was taken on Friday after a high-level meeting with the seven-member inter-ministerial Central team that toured cyclone-hit districts in Odisha for spot assessment of the situation. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy and Development Commissioner Suresh Mohapatra among others.
Divided into two groups, the team led by Joint Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs Saheli Ghosh Roy visited Dhamra, Basudevpur in Bhadrak district, Bhogarai in Balasore district, Rajkanika in Kendrapara district and Erasama and Kujang in Jagatsinghpur districts in the last two days.
Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena said the Central team is of the opinion that the cyclone has caused damage to standing crops besides power infrastructure and houses.“The team admitted that agriculture sector was the worst hit as we had assessed during the preliminary survey. The Central officials appreciated immediate measures taken to clear roads, restore power and other infrastructure in the affected villages,” he told reporters.
Though the final assessment is yet to be completed, nearly three lakh hectare of crop area, including horticulture crops, have been affected of which about 2.3 lakh hectare have suffered crop loss to the extent of 33 per cent and above. While 16 lakh electricity consumers were hit, 5,500 houses damaged in the cyclone.
The SRC said a transparent mechanism has been adopted to prepare the final list of house damage. The names of beneficiaries will be displayed at their respective panchayat offices and the final list will be prepared after a public hearing.
The final list will also be displayed at their panchayat offices.Joint teams of Agriculture and Revenue officials will conduct survey for crops damage, he said.“Though the visit of Central team to the affected areas after submission of damage report by the State
Government was the usual practice, after cyclone Fani a new system is being followed. Accordingly, the Central team visited affected areas and we would submit the memorandum by next weekend,” he added.
As many as 37.49 lakh people were affected in cyclone Bulbul in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts while Jajpur district was partially hit. As many as 8,218 persons were evacuated and shifted to 91 cyclone shelters.