Bhubaneswar: Despite the fact that Odisha has faced seven severe cyclonic storms in the past 10 years and incurred a loss of around Rs 35,000 crore, a proposal given by the state government two years ago to the Centre for cyclone resilient infra suffered has been hanging in balance.
According to an official source, primarily the infrastructure of agriculture, housing and electricity sectors in the coastal districts get damaged in cyclone, which requires years to be restored back to it’s original form.
Keeping this in mind, the proposal for cyclone resilient infra was put up by the state government on June 22, 2020 seeking the Centre’s assistance of Rs 11,114 crore, the official source further said.
Allegedly, neither the Centre has provided any fiscal assistance nor the state government has taken any step for infra development.
After ‘Super Cyclone’ of 1999, the state faced cyclonic storm ‘Phailin’ in 2013 October 12, which ravaged the southern Odisha districts. As many as 8 million people belonging to 13 districts were affected and the total loss was estimated to be more than Rs 2,300 crore.
Similarly, ‘Hudhud’ caused damages in the southern Odisha districts of about Rs 1,000 crore in 2014 October 13. Again, after a gap of four years, the very severe cyclonic storm ‘Titli’ caused massive damages in the coastal districts in 2018 October 11. As per an official estimate, 60.11 lakh people belonging to 8,125 villages under 128 blocks of 17 Odisha districts including Ganjam and Gajapati were badly affected in the cyclone and the loss was estimated to be Rs 2,765 crore.
In a gap of less than a year, the extremely severe cyclonic storm ‘Fani’ had badly hit 14 districts of the state in 2019 May 3, including Puri. The total loss caused due to Fani-induced rain was estimated at Rs 12,000 crore. Sixty-three persons had died and the infrastructure in electricity, drinking water and housing sectors were massively devastated in the cyclone. It had damaged 34Km of 33KV line, 453Km of 11KV line, 680Km of LT line and 2,439 electric transformers.
Again, after nearly a year, the cyclonic storm ‘Amphan’ had damaged Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur in 2020 May 20 and affected 44,44,896 people belonging to 272 wards under 22 civic limits and 9,833 villages of 1,558 panchayats under 92 blocks.
The total Amphan-induced loss was estimated at Rs 5,000 crore.
Likewise, the cyclonic storms ‘Yash’ and ‘Gulab’ have caused massive damages of infrastructure in the state, the official source stated.
A senior official in Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Office informed that four letters have been written to the Centre, but to no avail.
Notably, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Friday said a low pressure area is likely to form over South Andaman Sea and adjoining Bay of Bengal around May 5 and possibly may further intensify.
A cyclonic circulation is likely to form over South Andaman sea and neighbouring areas around May 4. Under its influence, a low pressure area is likely to form over the same region during next 24 hours.
It is likely to become more marked during subsequent 24 hours.
PNN