Torrential rains, caused mainly due to depression in the sea, are wreaking havoc in Orissa. Floods in four phases in as many months have inundated vast areas in as many as 20 of the 30 districts in the state, marooning lakhs of people. Deaths, house collapse and crop and cattle losses have been reported from the flood-affected districts. The worst affected districts were Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Mayurbhanj.
Last week, floods inundated large parts of 56 blocks in seven districts. Thirty-nine people were reported killed due to flood which marooned 40 lakh people in Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack and Kandhmal.
Preliminary estimates have shown that damage caused by the last week?s floods is in the range of Rs 1,085 crore. More than 64,000 houses have been damaged. The crop loss, however, would only be assessed only after the water recedes.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who air-dashed to New Delhi last weekend, has submitted a memorandum to Union home minister Shivraj Patil seeking interim assistance of Rs 750 crore from the Centre for relief, rehabilitation and restoration works.
This is the second memorandum submitted this year. The first memorandum seeking an assistance of Rs 306 crore was submitted in July. The chief minister reportedly urged the home minister to immediately release funds. He also requested Patil to depute a central team to assess the damage.
Massive relief and rescue operation has been launched in the affected districts. The water level in Brahmani, Subarnarekha have come down below the danger level.
??Thirty-nine people were killed and 40 lakh people in 56 blocks of seven districts have been severely affected due to last week?s flood??, says Manmohan Samal, state revenue minister, who visited the affected districts of Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj.
??The collectors of the affected districts have been instructed to provide cooked food to the marooned people and those who have been shifted to safer places. They have been asked to provide house-building assistance within 15 days??, he added.
The state government has requested the Centre to provide an additional quota of 12,000 kl of kerosene for the affected districts. Co-operative banks been directed to rephase farm loans of the affected loanees and provide fresh loans without any collateral.
The state government, meanwhile, has increased the ex-gratia amount for the disaster-hit people. Even while amendment of the relief code is on the anvil, ex-gratia for people who died due to drowning , wall collapse and snakebite has been enhanced to Rs 1 lakh from June 27. In case of lightning, it has been enhanced to Rs 50,000 from June 1. Similarly, house-building assistance has been raised to Rs 25,000 for concrete structure and Rs 10,000 for thatched house.
??The crop loss can only be assessed after the flood water recedes??, said Samal, adding that ??the affected farmers will be given subsidy of Rs 4,000 per hectare for irrigated land and Rs 2,000 per hectare for non-irrigated land.??