BMC puts Fani losses at Rs 230cr

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Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Monday put the losses incurred by it due to the destruction caused by the severe cyclonic storm Fani at around Rs 230 crore.
The assessment revealed that damage to the internal road networks and the drains associated with it was the highest and is pegged at Rs 155.60 crore. Similarly, the loss due to collapse of walls of the 10 natural drainage channels is Rs 32.42 crore.
Adding further, a source at the BMC said, “As the wind speed during the passing of the cyclonic storm was more than 200 kmph, the utility poles were damaged in many parts of the city and around 1,500 of them were counted with the help of 14 agencies engaged in 67 wards. This will amount to a loss to the tune of Rs 5.39 crore or even more.”
Currently, the city has around 50,000 street light poles (including Cesu poles) and 60,000 LED street lights. While 40,000 poles are with single street light, 10,000 median poles for street lights are with double lights.
However, while BMC has its own 15,000 street light poles in the city, other street lights are mounted on poles of Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu), the power distribution company for the central Odisha districts.
“Collective damage to buildings, parks, greenery and losses to mechanical equipment would be around Rs 25.70 crore, the cost of lifting of tree/green debris from all wards till May 10 was reported to be Rs 10 crore which is expected to increase further,” the source added.
Meanwhile, to manage the humungous green waste the BMC has created 220 composting pits in its 55 parks. In order to expedite the process of composting, water is sprinkled on the pits either manually or through use of drip irrigation. This apart, chemicals, bio digesters and jaggery (gur) are applied to the compost pits.
Furthermore, the assessment is reported to be tentative and the figures are likely to increase as the entire reconstruction work is still underway. Since the lifting of green trash is still on, the cost will escalate after the end of the cleaning operation along with other miscellaneous expenses.