With a month left for the Southwest monsoon to hit Odisha, the State government on Monday said it would begin a door-to-door house damage survey from May 14 and issue work orders for the construction of houses on June 1 in cyclone-affected areas.
11-member team
An 11-member Central team, split into two groups led by Vivek Bharadwaj, Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ajay Kumar, Director in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, visited Puri and parts of Khurdha district.
The Central team was apprised of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Fani by the Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi, before going for a field visit.
Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanking him for the support rendered to Odisha by the Union government.
‘Devastating experience’
“While the people of the affected districts have gone through immense hardship, the loss of shelter has been a devastating experience The State government is undertaking a detailed house damage assessment which would be completed shortly. The exact number of houses damaged completely or substantially will be arrived at after the survey,” Mr. Patnaik noted in the letter.
“However, according to preliminary estimation, about 5 lakh houses have been completely or substantially damaged across 14 districts with the major loss occurring in Puri district,” he observed.
Mr. Modi had undertaken aerial survey of the cyclone-affected areas during his visit to the State on May 6.
‘Dire need’
“A presentation on the extent of damage was also made by the State administration, highlighting the dire need for building disaster resilient housing along the coastal belt of Odisha, vulnerable to cyclonic storms,” Mr. Patnaik said, requesting the Centre to sanction 5 lakh Prime Minister Awas Yojna (PMAY) houses initially.
Emphasising the need for waiver of the Permanent Wait List (PWL) criterion for this particular allocation, Mr. Patnaik also urged Mr. Modi to consider a Centre-State fund sharing pattern of 90:10 as a special case.
