Bhubaneswar: An eight-member central inter-ministerial team on Thursday flagged extensive crop losses and damage to critical infrastructure in Odisha following Cyclone Arnab and subsequent floods, during a review meeting with senior state government officials here.
The team, led by Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs Ravi Shankar, shared its field assessment after inspecting cyclone- and flood-affected areas of Gajapati and Ganjam districts on November 3 and 4, respectively.
The preliminary assessment meeting, organised by the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), was chaired by Chief Secretary Anu Garg at Lok Seva Bhawan.
The central team observed extensive damage to crops, roads, electricity networks, river embankments and irrigation canals under the Water Resources Department. Drinking water infrastructure, national highways, rural and panchayat roads, and bridges were also affected.
District Collectors informed the meeting that a comprehensive assessment of the damage would require a few more days, given its widespread nature. The central team recommended house-to-house surveys to ensure a detailed assessment of losses.
The team also indicated that the Centre would extend assistance for reconstruction, strengthening of river embankments and other related restoration works, the official statement said.
The meeting also discussed the need for long-term measures to strengthen and raise the height of river embankments and canals in the affected areas. While temporary restoration works have been undertaken at several locations, additional measures would be required to improve infrastructure resilience.
Heavy losses to fish ponds and livestock were also reported from the affected areas.
A consolidated damage assessment report, compiled by the SRC on the basis of inputs from various state government departments, was submitted to the central team.
Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary Deoranjan Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee, SRC Rajesh Prabhakar Patil and senior officials from various departments attended the meeting.
Addressing the team, Chief Secretary Garg outlined Odisha’s experience in dealing with successive cyclones and floods since the 1999 Super Cyclone.
She said disaster management, advance preparedness, rapid deployment of resources, rescue and relief operations remain the state’s top priorities as Odisha faces multiple natural disasters every year.
The state government is also taking continuous steps to strengthen disaster-resilient infrastructure and institutional capacity to minimise the impact of future disasters and protect lives and property, she added.
