Cyclone Fani leaves 29 dead in Odisha, CM announces relief package
Bhubaneswar, May 05: The death toll in Cyclone Fani rose to 32 on Sunday, two days after the "extremely severe" storm barrelled through coastal Odisha, causing widespread destruction and leaving hundreds grappling with water shortage and power cuts.
Announcing a relief package for those affected by the calamity, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said all families in Puri and in those parts of Khurda, which had been "extremely severely affected" in the storm, will get 50 kg of rice, Rs 2,000 in cash and polythene sheets, if covered under the Food Security Act (FSA).
For the rest of Khurda district -- categorised as "severely" affected -- the FSA families will get a month's quota of rice, Rs 1,000 in cash and polythene sheets, he added.
Those living in the "moderately-affected" districts of Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur will be eligible for a month's quota of rice and Rs 500 in cash, Patnaik said.
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The chief minister also announced an assistance of Rs 95,100 for "fully-damaged" houses, Rs 52,000 for "partially-damaged" houses and Rs 3,200 for houses that had suffered minor damage.
Talking to reporters here, Patnaik claimed that water supply had been restored in 70 per cent areas of the worst-hit Puri town and 40 per cent of the places in state capital Bhubaneswar.
"I
am
hoping
that
water
supply
will
be
fully
restored
in
Bhubaneswar
shortly
and
at
least
in
90
per
cent
areas
of
Puri
town
by
this
evening,"
the
Biju
Janata
Dal
(BJD)
chief,
who
is
seeking
a
fifth
term
in
office,
said.
"The
government
has
made
arrangements
to
provide
cooked
food
for
free
over
the
next
15
days.
We
will
also
take
up
tree
plantation
on
a
mission
mode,"
he
added.
The chief minister, however, could not give the details on the status of the ongoing work for power restoration in the affected areas.
"We have to be very careful to avoid accidental electrocution," he said, when asked if power supply will be restored in the capital city, which continued without electricity for the third day on Sunday.
According to state Chief Secretary A P Padhi, 21 of the 29 deaths were registered in the pilgrim town of Puri, where the storm made a landfall on Friday, flattening fragile houses, uprooting scores of trees, electric poles and mobile towers.
The government had mounted a massive restoration work across 10,000 villages and 52 urban areas ravaged by the storm, affecting nearly one crore people, he said.
PTI