Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: In the wake of a missive from the state to the Centre on drought situation, the Union government has formed an inter-ministerial committee, which will visit Orissa soon.
“In response to the state government’s memorandum, Agriculture ministry has formed a nine-member inter-ministerial committee which will visit the state next week, to make an assessment of the loss due to drought,” special relief commissioner (SRC) PK Mohapatra said.
“We have prepared a final draft on drought and will present it to them,” he pointed out.
The state government has recently submitted an interim-report to the Centre seeking Rs 1687crore relief to mitigate the drought situation in the state.
Meanwhile, the proposed visit of the Central team to state for the second time to assess the drought situation has gained political activism.
While the ruling BJD slammed the Centre for not releasing any fund immediately, BJP said the visiting team will recommend Central fund immediately. However, the Congress attacked both the parties for playing politics over the issue.
“After the first team’s visit, the Centre has not released a single pie till date. However, it has granted interim assistance to other states,” BJD spokesperson Sameer Dash said. The Centre should immediately announce interim package for the state, he added.
Rejecting the BJD allegation, state BJP president KV Singhdeo said, “The Centre is sending a team to assess the loss suffered by the state due to drought. After the team visits the state, Centre will definitely announce a package.”
Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said, “If another team is visiting the state, then the first team must have been a political stunt. Besides, why did not the state government submit the interim-report to the Centre earlier?” he asked.
In October, a Central team had visited the state and submitted its report to the Centre.
