BHUBANESWAR: The August flood which affected 24 districts left public property worth more than Rs 126.62 crore damaged in the State. Besides, more than 33 per cent crops over 1.26 lakh hectare and 14,235 houses were also damaged, a damage assessment report of Odisha government said.
The report submitted to the government by Collectors revealed that 5,036 hectare crop land was sand cast while fish and fish hatchlings were damaged in 28.382 hectare and 483.145 hectare respectively. Besides, 1,236 cattle also died in the flood while 1,125 boats and fishing nets were damaged.
According to damage assessment reports submitted by Water Resources, Works, Rural Development, Housing and Urban Development and Energy departments, public assets worth Rs 126.62 crore were damaged due to flood in different river systems as well as heavy rains.
The Water Resources department will require Rs 52.77 crore for restoration of damaged properties, while Works department will need Rs 20.19 crore for repair of properties. The loss sustained by Rural Development department has been estimated at Rs 42.54 crore while Housing and Urban Development department will require Rs 6 crore for restoration damaged infrastructure. The Energy department has estimated it will require Rs 5.03 crore for restoration of damaged infrastructure.
The State government has sanctioned Rs 128.58 crore for assistance to over six lakh flood-affected people for house building, damaged boats and nets, compensation for cultivation and sand cast, fish ponds, affected weavers and artisans. Similarly, Rs 99.92 crore has been sanctioned to provide relief to people in marooned villages.
Official sources said Rs 87.15 crore including Rs 43.53 crore for water resources, Rs 13.67 crore for works, Rs 24.14 crore for rural development and Rs 4.97 crore for energy departments have been sanctioned for restoration and repair of damaged infrastructure.
Cong demands input subsidy for farmers to be doubled
The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) demanded on Wednesday that the input subsidy provided to the farmers to compensate the loss due to natural calamities should be increased by 100 per cent as the existing provision is not adequate.In a separate memoranda submitted to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar at New Delhi, chairman of the Kissan Morcha Amiya Patnaik said input subsidy for irrigated land and non-irrigated land should be hiked to Rs 27,200 and Rs 13,600 per hectare respectively. Compensation of Rs 13,600 and Rs 6,800 per hectare to the farmers affected by natural calamities is not sufficient, he said.