Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday urged the Centre to immediately release assistance for undertaking repair and restoration work in the areas affected by Cyclone Titli.
Seeking attention of Union home minister Rajnath Singh into the matter, Mr Patnaik through a letter pointed out that the very severe cyclonic storm ‘Titli’ that hit the state on October 10 causing flood and landslides had severely affected a vast population of about 60.31 lakh in 128 blocks under 17 districts of the state.
The state government earlier submitted a memorandum to the Centre seeking assistance of Rs 2,023.13 crore against total requirement of Rs 2779.32 crore for relief and restoration.
Referring to a letter he had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Patnaik wrote: “I had requested for release of an interim assistance of Rs 1,000 crore pending final decision of the high level committee on the memorandum.”
He stated that an inter-ministerial central team had also made an on-the-spot assessment of the damages during the first week of November. “However, the state is yet to receive any assistance from the Central government,” he said.
Mr Patnaik maintained that his government had taken prompt action to provide required assistance to the affected. Population and for immediate restoration of the damaged infrastructure and services in the shortest possible time.
“An amount of Rs 1,689.13 crore was released for relief and restoration measures, exhausting the entire amount available in State Disaster Response Fund. Hence, assistance from National Disaster Response Fund is urgently required for replenishing the SDRF and for undertaking the balance works,” he wrote.
