Bhubaneswar: A Central team is coming to Odisha this week to assess the damages caused by the Cyclone Bulbul. The team will also visit West Bengal where the cyclone has played a havoc.
“Central team would be visiting the affected areas in both the States with this week to take stock of the damages”, said the National Crisis Management Committee(NCMC).
The NCMC, which met at New Delhi on Monday, reviewed relief and restoration work in the aftermath of Cyclone ‘Bulbul’ over West Bengal and Odisha. Odisha special relief commissioner PK Jena and other senior officials participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
According to the meeting, West Bengal has reported 7 human casualties, damages to about 1 lakh houses and standing crops. While electricity has been restored, telecom services are expected to be restored shortly. While no human casualty was reported from Odisha, there has been extensive damage to standing crops in over 2 lakhs hectares. Power and water supply have been restored barring a few areas where services are expected to be resumed by tomorrow evening.
The NCMC assured all central assistance in terms of additional stocks of food items, drinking water, health services as well as restoration of telecom and power services.
Odisha is preparing to submit a memorandum to the visiting Central team seeking specific Central assistance for restoration and re-construction works. The chief secretary, Asit Tripathy, Sunday took stock of the situation and directed the district collectors to give detailed reports within five days.
It may be recalled that IMD had provided regular and timely alerts on a sustained basis about the Cyclone to the States. Concerned Central agencies including NDRF, Coast Guard etc have been fully involved in rescue and relief operations.
The NCMC review meeting at Delhi was attended by senior officers of the ministries of home, defence, power, telecommunications, agriculture and cooperation, consumer affairs, food & public distribution, food processing industries, health & family welfare as well as those from NDRF and NDMA attended the meeting. Senior officers from West Bengal too participated in the meeting through video conference.
