BHUBANESWAR: Odisha with its proactive measures and policies has emerged as a model in disaster management, said former state Governor MM Rajendran on Sunday. Rajendran, who spearheaded Odisha’s disaster management, right after the 1999 supper cyclone said the measures undertaken and policies adopted over the years has helped the state bring down casualties to just around 20 in the last major cyclone compared to the 1999 storm that claimed around 10,000 lives.
Attending a function held at Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) University for release of the Odia translation of his English autobiography ‘Service Uninterrupted’, Rajendran shared he was appointed Governor of the state by the then prime minister late Atal Behari Vajpayee immediately after the cyclone hit the state ravaging its coasts in 1999. The calamity had almost paralysed the administration. However, the Governor swung into action utilising his experience as a civil servant to provide relief to affected people and reorganise everything.
The prime minister had also set up a three-member Cabinet Committee headed by the then Defence Minister late George Fernandes to oversee relief and restoration work. The former Governor advised the government to focus on constructing smaller dams in the downstream of the Hirakud dam on the Mahanadi system to control floods as heavy rains in the catchment of the river measuring around 48,000 sq km have been threatening the coastal areas frequently. Rajendran also thanked SOA for taking up the task of translating his autobiography and publication. The Odia edition of the book titled ‘Seba Abyahata’, which has been published by SOA, details his experiences as a bureaucrat and as Governor of Odisha between 1999 and 2004.
Director of University Outreach Programme at SOA Prof Nachieketa K Sharma has translated the book into Odia. The programme was presided over by SOA’s advisory board chairman Prof Damodar Acharya. Rajendran’s wife Susheela Rajendran, former SOA VC Prof Ashok Kumar Mahapatra along with other dignitaries were present.