BHUBANESWAR : Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday said the entire state administration is on high alert and fully prepared to tackle the impact of Cyclone Dana as it is expected to hit the north coastal Odisha between Thursday night and Friday morning.
Urging people not to panic, Majhi said the government is committedly working on the principle of Zero Casualty and taking all possible measures to ensure their safety and security.
Reviewing the preparedness of the administration to deal with the situation, Majhi directed officials to ensure each and every person residing in the path of Dana is evacuated to safe places before the storm surge. All the people in villages under the projected track of Dana should be shifted to the cyclone shelters before it hits the Odisha coast. Not one person in the vulnerable and low-lying area should be left behind, he stressed.
He directed the district collectors to ensure that the cyclone shelters are equipped with all facilities including electricity and drinking water. The shelters should have adequate stock of medicine, food materials and baby food, he added.
The chief minister was informed that teams from NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Services are ready to be deployed and start movement to the vulnerable areas soon.
Stating that deaths also occur due wall collapse during cyclone and heavy rains, he said all weak houses should be identified immediately and people residing in them shifted to shelters. Weak billboards and signboards should be identified in urban areas and dismantled as these also cause havoc and fatalities during the cyclone, he said.
The chief minister asked Energy, Works and Rural Development departments to be ready with plans to ensure that basic services like electricity and telecommunication connectivity are restored in the affected areas as early as possible.
Centre to send one chopper to assist in rescue, relief ops
He also directed district officials that there should not be shortage of drinking water in the affected areas.
Majhi stressed that there should be uninterrupted power supply to the hospitals. He also directed the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare department to take steps to ensure that there is no black-marketing of essential commodities during and after the cyclone.
Besides, the chief minister asked the Agriculture department to work for early assessment of damage to crops due to the cyclone. Farmers should be provided with advance inputs for rabi crop so that they can directly go for cultivation as soon as the situation improves, he said.
The chief minister directed the administration to crackdown on rumours and misinformation during the period. The special relief commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority and Information and Public Relations departments should provide real-time information on the situation to the people. They should put up updated posts on the cyclone movement and situation reports on their social media handles regularly, he said.
Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari said the Centre has agreed to provide a helicopter for rescue and relief operations. The helicopter will reach the state before October 23. It will be used by the government when the situation demands.
The minister also said visitors from outside have been asked to vacate the city before Tuesday afternoon in consideration of their own safety.
