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Cyclone Yaas: PM Modi announces ₹500 cr package for Odisha
Odisha, however, demanded assistance for disaster resilience power system and protection from coastal storm surge.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced financial assistance worth ₹500 crore to Odisha in the aftermath of Cyclone Yaas. He said the Centre will deploy an inter-ministerial team to visit Odisha and West Bengal to assess the extent of damage, based on which further assistance will be granted.
Odisha did not demand any immediate package from the Centre for undertaking relief and restoration works in the aftermath of cyclonic storm Yaas. The state, however, demanded assistance for a disaster resilience power system and protection from coastal storm surge.
Ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s aerial survey of cyclone Yaas-affected districts of Balasore, Bhadrak and Kendrapara in Odisha, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, in a meeting with the PM at Bhubaneswar airport, said Odisha does not seek any immediate financial assistance from the Central government as the country is at the peak of the pandemic.
“We would like to manage it through our own resources to tide over the crisis. However, we sought assistance for long term measures to make Odisha disaster resilient as we are frequented by such climate hazards every year. Odisha demands a disaster-resilient power infrastructure and resilient coastal protection with storm surge resilient embankments,” Patnaik said.
PM Modi, who landed at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar at 10.50 am, was received by Governor Ganeshi Lal and CM Patnaik, among others. Later, he held a review meeting at the airport with the Governor, Patnaik, DGP Abhay, chief secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Jena, Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union minister of state for fisheries and MSME, Pratap Sarangi. After the meeting, the PM proceeded on the aerial survey of the worst-hit Balasore and Bhadrak districts.
In June last year, the state government, during a visit of the inter-ministerial central team for damage assessment of cyclone Amphan, asked for a ₹20,000-crore package from the Centre for the creation of a disaster-resilient infrastructure in the state instead of spending a huge amount each year towards restoration and rehabilitation following disasters brought about by cyclones, among others.
The state government wanted the Centre’s assistance for laying of underground cable in urban areas, resilient power transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas, building remote control GIS grid, raising the height of saline embankments to at least 6.5 metres above sea level and converting 1.66 lakh kaccha houses to cyclone resilient pucca houses.
When cyclone Fani struck Odisha coast, it caused huge damage to the power infrastructures that left over 1 lakh km of 11-KV and low tension lines damaged while 2.18 lakh electric poles were damaged. Electricity could not be restored in Puri district for over a month. Fani caused damage worth at least ₹1,160 crore to Odisha’s power sector.
