More dists under disaster cover

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Bhubaneswar: After learning it the hard way post cyclone Titli which had ravaged Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada districts, the government Monday decided to extend the disaster mitigation cover to more districts in the state.
A decision to this effect was taken at the state executive committee meeting on disaster management under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary AP Padhi here.
“It was decided at the meeting on how to make Odisha more disaster resilient. Normally, our preparedness is meant for the coastal areas. This time, we observed that climatic change has its impact on adjoining districts of the coastal districts like Gajapati as well,” Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnuapada Sethi said.
Since many of the non-coastal districts like Gajapati are vulnerable to cyclone on account of climate changes, the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) will construct cyclone shelters and enhance capacity building on the lines of those in the coastal districts, in a time bound manner, he said.
Necessary steps for disaster preparedness such as establishment of multipurpose cyclone shelters and information dissemination centres will be rolled out in other disaster prone districts.
“There have been landslides in Gajapati district in 2004, 1998 besides this year. The finance department has approved the recommendation by the rural development (RD) department to use latest technology for mapping the disaster preparedness,” he said, adding the government will take technical support from
IIT-Bombay for this purpose.
Sethi said the damage assessment report of `2,770 crore, which was presented to the Centre earlier, was approved at the meeting. Funds sanctioned and distributed during the emergency were also approved, he said.
“We have given `102 crore as first installment of gratuitous relief (GR) to Collectors of three affected districts such as Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada. That amount was approved too. At least `375 crore will be given as GR. After the distribution of first installment, the rest will be credited to the bank accounts of affected people,” the SRC said.
The government sanctioned `27 crore to the energy department for the restoration work while `20.31 crore was sanctioned to food supplies department for distribution of dry foods in affected areas.
He said `7.74 crore has been allotted to water resources department to undertake repair of lift irrigation points whereas `49.55 crore was released to works department and `55.08 crore to rural development department for renovation of damaged roads.
The highest allocation of `624.28 crore has been given to panchayati raj department for repair of damaged roads, anganwadi centres, primary health centres, among others. Besides, `2 crore was sanctioned to the veterinary department for loss of livestock, he pointed out.
The Chief Secretary directed officials to ensure that all schools and anganwadi centres resume functioning before completion of puja holidays.