PM Modi announces Rs 500 crore assistance for cyclone-hit Odisha

Praising Odisha for its deft handling of the situation in the wake of Cyclone Amphan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced Rs 500 crore advance assistance. He assured that Centre would work shoulder to shoulder Odisha at this difficult juncture and give all possible assistance for restoration and rebuilding of infrastructure in the areas affected by the cyclone.

PM Modi who conducted an aerial survey of the cyclone-affected districts of Balasore and Bhadrak along with chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal, said he had a detailed review of the losses in agriculture, housing, power, communication and infrastructure.

“Everyone is fighting Covid-19. In such a time, we had a super cyclone in some parts of India. This became very worrying. At the same time, due to the well established processes in Odisha, many lives were saved. I congratulate the people and Government of Odisha,” said PM Modi.

The PM said pending a review of the situation in matters of long term relief, restoration, rehabilitation, the Centre has decided to provide advance assistance of Rs 500 crore and ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of deceased and Rs 50,000 to seriously injured in the cyclone in the State. He said the Odisha goverment will soon submit a report to the Centre after assessing its losses and following that a an Inter-Ministerial Central team.will arrive immediately and assess the damages. However, Odisha officials said it is not clear whether the amount would be given from National Disaster Response Fund or Centre’s share from State Disaster Response Fund.

As per preliminary estimates by the state government 44.80 lakh people have been affected in 1,500 gram panchayats. Similarly, crops in over 1 lakh hectare farmland have suffered damage. Besides, power distribution infrastructure has been badly affected with twisting and uprooting of electric poles, damage to transformers and substations under the impact of Cyclone Amphan in the four worst affected districts of Balasore, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Bhadrak.

The Odisha government today said there has been no confirmation of any loss of human life in the state due to cyclone Amphan. There were reports of three cyclone-related deaths in Balasore, Bhadrak and Kendrapara districts. Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena said the causes were different.

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