Naveen waives tuition fees for students in Flood hit areas

Bhubaneswar, Sep 16 (UNI) Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today ordered waiving of tuition fees for all the school and college students in the flood-hit areas of state.

Mr Patnaik, who visited the flood affected areas of Bolangir in Western Orissa today, announced that a high level expert team would soon visit the district to find out a permanent solution to the floods in the district.

Nearly 27 of the 30 districts in the state had been affected in the series of floods since July causing an unprecedented damages to the houses and crops.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who visited the state last month, had announced a central assistance of Rs 200 crores for flood victims. A seven-member central team had also toured the flood-hit areas at the direction of the Prime Minister.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also announced an assistance of Rs 300 crores from the state exchequer to mitigate the sufferings of the people and farmers badly hit in the floods that hit the state five times during July and September.

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