Bhubaneswar: A number of governmental organisations, business houses, charitable trusts and individuals have come forward to help rebuild Odisha in the aftermath of cyclone ‘fani’ that devastated the coastal belt of the state May 3.
Apart from the Rs 1340 crore already given by the Union Government, Karnataka State government Thursday announced a financial assistance of Rs 10 crore to the state. An order into this effect has already been issued and the money would be released immediately out of the contingency fund, said a source.
Among other state governments, the government of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have donated Rs 10 crore each while the Chhattishgarh government has donated Rs 11 crore and the Uttarakhand government has donated Rs 5 crore towards the cause.
Coming to enterprises, Adani Group has committed Rs 25 crore, HDFC bank has announced a support package of Rs 10 crore and ICICI Bank has donated Rs 10 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, according to public notifications issues by these business houses.
HDFC bank further announced that it will restore and repair 20 government schools in the state that were affected by the cyclone. This initiative is aimed at restoring normalcy for distressed school students in the cyclone-hit districts of Khurda, Puri and Cuttack.
Among individuals, Hindi movie actor Akshay Kumar has donated Rs1 crore and Tibetan Spiritual leader Dalai Lama has donated Rs 10 lakh.
This apart a number of politicians, bureaucrats and employees of business houses have contributed to the cause out of their salary.
It may be mentioned here that according to preliminary studies by the state government the state needs around Rs 17000 crore to rebuild.