Bhubaneswar: The state government Sunday extricated three more bodies in Gajapati district taking the toll in the severe cyclonic storm Titli to 18.
With the recovery of three more bodies from the landslide spot in Gajapati district, the toll in the state on account of the storm notched up to 18.
According to Gajapati district superintendent of police Amulya Das, 13 bodies were found Saturday evening and two more were pulled out of the rubble Sunday morning. Three persons are still missing at the landslide site.
Meanwhile, the flood situation in state improved marginally Sunday, paving way for the administration to expedite relief and restoration work, Special Relief Commissioner B P Sethi told reporters. Rescue efforts were affected as heavy rain pounded the state for three days after Titli’s landfall.
Sethi, however, said the situation has “considerably improved in Ganjam and Gajapati districts, with water receding from low-lying areas and roads being cleared of tree trunks and power poles’’.
“Electricity supply has been restored in many parts of Ganjam, one of the worst-hit districts in the state.Odisha Forest Development Corporation personnel have been pressed into service in Gajapati district to clear roads by removing uprooted trees,” Sethi told reporters after a review meeting with Chief Secretary A P Padhi.
Stating that the cyclone had extensively damaged the standing crops in many areas, the SRC said a loss assessment will be done in the next few days and assistance will be doled out accordingly.
In Ganjam, vast stretches of Aska and Purushottampur were submerged in rain water over the past two days, said District Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange. The relief team had to air drop food packets for the stranded people there, he said. The SRC clarified that floodwater has subsided in Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada districts in the past 24 hours.
Talking about the landslip incident in Gajapati, Sethi said the state government has decided to provide `4 lakh ex gratia to families of each of the deceased. Three additional ODRAF and two NDRF teams will be dispatched to Gajapati to step up restoration work, he said.
CDMO suspended: Meanwhile, a Health and Family Welfare department Saturday suspended Rayagada chief district medical officer Bimala Prabha Sahoo for dereliction of duty. Angul chief district medical officer Siba Prasad Padhi has been transferred and posted to Rayagada.
