Centre sanctions Rs 128 crore more to Odisha as Amphan relief
BHUBANESWAR: The Centre on Friday sanctioned an additional central assistance of Rs 128.23 crore for Odisha towards the losses caused owing to Cyclone Amphan that struck the northern parts of the state in May.
An official statement said a high-level committee, led by Union home minister Amit Shah, approved the amount for Odisha under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). The assistance was sanctioned based on the report of the central team that had visited the state to assess the damage caused by the cyclone in the four coastal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur.
Earlier during his visit to the state on May 22 in the aftermath of Amphan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced Rs 500 crore assistance for cyclone relief work, which was released as advance to the state immediately.
As Amphan had not caused much devastation compared to the other cyclones that have hit Odisha in the past seven years, the state government had sent a memorandum of Rs 16,235 crore to develop disaster-resilient infrastructures in the power and housing sector and to strengthen the coastal embankments in the state.
Of the Rs 16,235-crore memorandum sent to the centre, only Rs 202 crore had been estimated as losses owing to Amphan. The remaining amount was sought to strengthen the power distribution and transmission networks in the coastal areas (Rs 11,114 crore), building disaster-resilient houses along the coastal lines (Rs 4,152 crore) and to strengthen the coastal embankments (Rs 767 crore). The Centre is yet to take a call on the state government’s request for building resilient infrastructure.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister for the additional allocation of Rs 128.23 crore and said it will help Odisha strengthen its disaster-management mechanism. He added that the Prime Minister always stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of the state during hard times.
Odisha’s geographical position with a 480km long coastline makes it vulnerable to natural disasters. Severe cyclones like Phailin (2013), HudHud (2014), Titli (2018) and Fani (2019) had hit the state and caused widespread damages in different coastal districts.