Bhubaneswar: The state government once again placed its demand before the Central team for building disaster-resilient infrastructure in coastal area to deal with cyclones and high tides.
The state has raised this issue during the meeting with the Central team that was in Odisha to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas.
The Central team headed by joint secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs Sunil Kumar Barnwal held a meeting with Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena and other senior officers here Tuesday.
“Our Chief Minister has already stated that we don’t need fund for the restoration work. We can meet the requirement from funds available with us. The state has only two major requirements. One is disaster resilient power infrastructure and second is construction of high-embankment in coastal area to deal with high tide surges,” Mohapatra said after the meeting.
He said the state government is preparing a detail project report (DPR) in this regard while the Centre is also preparing guidelines for use of disaster mitigation fund for this purpose.
After the Centre issues the guidelines, the state will submit its DPR to the Centre and try to create disaster-resilient power network and embankments in the coastal areas during next few years, he said, adding, “This will minimise the loss, if any cyclone hits Odisha in future.”
As for damage is concerned, the Chief Secretary said, the state government is preparing a memorandum, which will be submitted to the Centre in next three to four days.
The Central team visited cyclone-affected Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Mayurbhanj districts during Monday and Tuesday.
Notably, the tropical storm Yaas hit north Odisha coast May 26 morning.
The state government has pegged the post-cyclone damage at Rs 610 crore. Of this, Rs 520 crore is damage caused to government infrastructure and Rs 90 crore is damage to private properties. After undertaking an aerial survey of the cyclone-hit areas of the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced Rs 500-crore financial assistance for Odisha.
