A team of officials from the Centre will visit the State soon to assess the impact of Cyclone Ockhi.
Briefing the media after meetings with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in New Delhi on Saturday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the State government sought a Central assistance of ₹1,843 crore to provide short-term relief to the fisher families hit by the cyclone and put in place cyclone-mitigation mechanisms in the State.
“The State has urged the Centre to sanction both an immediate assistance of ₹200 crore and a long-term financial package as envisaged under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project,” he added.
Mr. Vijayan said both the Central Ministers responded positively to the State’s demand. Ms. Sitaraman told him that as many as 23 ships and eight helicopters had been deployed for the search and rescue of the fishers and that Dornier aircraft of the Coast Guard would also be pressed into service. The search would be extended up to 500 nautical miles.
She also told him that the Centre had sought the help of countries such as Oman that shared the waters with India in the search operations, the Chief Minister said. He said 38 people had been confirmed dead in the cyclone so far.
