Odisha seeks financial assistance of Rs 1100 crore from Centre for flood damage

Bhubaneswar:  The Odisha government on Thursday placed a demand of Rs 1100 crore as financial assistance from the the Centre for the damage caused by recent floods in the state.

Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy and Special Relief Commissioner P. K Jena submitted an initial report to the five-member Central team led by Praveen Vasisth on the damages caused by the recent floods  and presented the demand of financial assistance.

While presenting the report, the Chief Secretary said , “About 2.25lakh hectares of agriculture and crop land have suffered more than 33% damage. Similarly about 120,000 houses have suffered damages to various degrees. Besides embankments, roads, public infrastructure have also been damaged.”

“The response support as requested would be about Rs 1100 crore and mitigation measures are being worked out and will be indicated in the final memorandum,” he added.

The visiting central team appreciated the efforts of the State Government and also agreed to the suggestion to consider supporting the state not only in response as per SDRF norm but also include mitigation measures like strengthening of embankments, construction of new embankments, disaster resilient housing support against damaged houses and other resilient infrastructure.

The central team also appreciated state’s approach to disaster management and new approach of seeking assistance from Central Government on mitigation measures.