Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Thursday lauded the disaster response teams who safely rescued a pregnant woman from flood-hit Balasore district.
The CM said the state government is always committed to ensuring the safety and essential services of every life during times of crisis.
Majhi, who is monitoring the flood situation from Delhi in a social media post, said, “Your safety and service are our utmost priority. Amid adverse flood conditions, a pregnant woman from Bagirathipur village in Balasore district has been safely rescued and reached the hospital on time. The people’s government is always committed to ensuring the safety and essential services of every life during times of crisis.”
The state government said that three deaths have so far been reported in the floods and many people were rescued from difficult situations.
“Every life is precious for the state government, and the administration is working in that direction,” Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari said while rejecting the allegation of opposition BJD of the state government’s lack of sensitivity towards flood affected people.
The BJD came down heavily on the state’s BJP government over the death of three persons in the ongoing floods in north Odisha.
“Valuable lives were lost due to lack of preparedness by the state government. Former chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s policy of “every life is precious” has become meaningless for the Mohan Charan Majhi government,” alleged BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty.
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Stating that the BJD government’s “zero casualty” policy was not adopted by the BJP government, leading to human casualties, Mohanty alleged that the administration has become very casual.
“The state government has completely failed in flood management,” he alleged, adding that despite prior warnings issued by the Meteorological department, the state government had made no preparations, resulting in the loss of precious lives.
Meanwhile, the personnel of Khariar fire station carried out a successful joint rescue operation at the Birighat River near Daragaon Village under Boden Block in Nuapada district, bringing 27 stranded people safely to shore, officials said, adding that the rescued persons include 20 males, 4 females and 3 children.
Despite initial reports of eight persons being trapped, the rescue teams continued their search and safely evacuated all 27 stranded individuals, preventing any loss of life. The operation was conducted swiftly and efficiently, ensuring the safe evacuation of all stranded individuals. The prompt response and coordinated efforts of the rescue team helped avert any loss of life, they said.
Odisha’s Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Rajesh Prabhakar Patil said as many as 123 response teams comprising personnel of NDRF (6 teams), ODRAF (14 teams) and about 103 Fire Services teams have been strategically deployed across vulnerable locations.
He said senior IAS officers have also been assigned to monitor the situation and coordinate field-level response in close coordination with district administrations.
A report from Baragada district said that personnel of the Bheden Fire Station successfully rescued two persons and 12 sheep during a disaster rescue operation at Rugdi Bargaon under Bheden Police Station.
“The timely response and coordinated efforts of the Fire Services personnel ensured the safe evacuation of all rescued persons and livestock, preventing any loss of life,” they said.
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