**Bhubaneswar: ** Amidst high speculation regarding the impact of cyclone Kyant on Odisha, the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra made it clear that it will not touch the coast of Odisha as it has curved towards Visakhapatnam.
“The cyclone which was heading towards Myanmar has re-curved and is moving towards south-west. It is not touching Odisha, but is likely to touch Andhra. But, rains will occur in coastal belt of the State as an impact of the passing cyclone,” said the SRC.
“However, the District Collectors are advised to see that the harvested crops are gathered and kept in a sheltered place so as to minimise the loss,” informed Mohapatra.
His statement came just after the completion of the review meeting of the CM regarding the preparedness of the State.
The CM had a video conference with the 14 coastal district collectors during the meeting. It was attended by Aditya Prasad Padhi, Chief Secretary, R. Balkrishnan, Development Commisssioner, Asit Tripathy, Home Secretary, K.B Singh, DGP, Odisha, Bijayshree Routray, Revenue Minister, and Bikram Keshari Arkuh, Information and Broadcasting Minister, Arati Ahuja, Health Secretary among other government officials.
“Though there will be no impact of the cyclone on Odisha, there will be rains in the coastal belt on 27th and 28th of October. Extension of the cloud band will cause rains mainly in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khorda, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Nayagarh, Rayagada, Kandhamal,etc,” said Sarat Sahu, Director, Met Department who was also present in the meeting.
“However, the wind speed will increase upto 45-55 km per hour,” he added.
However, the leave applications of the government authorities, medical and paramedical staff remains cancelled. The administrative department secretary have been directed to alert their respective field officials to be ready to control any kind of situation. The control rooms are to be activated 24X7 in the districts.
