BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government on Sunday urged Central government to suspend Shramik special trains from May 18 for three days due to cyclone Amphan.
"Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Ganjam may be affected due to the cyclonic storm. The Chief Secretary has requested Union Cabinet Secretary to consider suspending 'shramik special' trains from May18 for 3 days in the coastal areas," PK Jena, Special Relief Commissioner, Odisha on the cyclonic storm.
"The Chief Minister has held a review meeting with all concerned officials and district administrations. He has advised pre-positioning of the NDRF, fire service teams, alternate drinking water supply, manpower with equipment for road clearance," he added.
The request was made by the Chief Secretary hours after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) alerted that the cyclonic storm Amphan is very likely to "intensify" into a "severe cyclonic storm" in the next 12 hours and into a very severe cyclonic storm by the morning of May 18.
Also, to avoid any sort of untoward incident, the Odisha government has deployed ten teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur & Mayurbhanj districts of the state.
Seven teams are deployed at third NDRF BN Mundali in Cuttack.