Odisha Chief Secy holds meeting with collectors of six Cyclone Bulbul-hit districts

Odisha Chief Secretary A K Tripathy on Sunday held a meeting via video conference with collectors of six districts, which were severely hit by cyclonic storm, Bulbul.

Senior officers of the districts were also present in the meeting and the Revenue Divisional Commissioner of the central division was in Bhadrakh. He told Tripathy that agriculture has been very severely affected in the district. "Around 3 lakh hector's of paddy crop has been affected and 33 per cent of the crop in more than 2 lakh hector was damaged. All the areas which were used to grow vegetables and horticulture crops have been affected," the Revenue Divisional Commissioner said. He informed that the detailed assessment is being conducted. However, a large number of trees were damaged. "Around 16 lakh electric consumers were affected by the cyclone, out of which 15 lakh consumers have been restored with power supply," he said.

In Kendrapada, restoration of power supply would take time due to waterlogging.

"By Tuesday evening, the power supply will be 100 per cent. The water department has sent an adequate number of tankers to areas hit by the Cyclone Bulbul in Kendrapada," the district officers said.

Regarding mal casualty, the Kendrapada district collector said that 15 mals and about 50 poultry birds have died. "Around 5,500 houses were reported to be partially vandalised and 20-30 boats have been damaged," he added. The officer said that there are media reports that three persons have died in Kendrapada and the administration is verifying the authenticity of the report. The Chief Secretary was told that National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) inspector Manoranjan Prasad got injured in Basudevpur area of Bhadrakh district during the rescue operations. He has been admitted to the SCB Medical College in Cuttack and being treated in proper attention by senior professors. Meanwhile, the state government has requested the Centre to send a team for proper assessment of the damage occurred due to the cyclone.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik will conduct a meeting through video conferencing with collectors of affected districts on Monday.

( With inputs from ANI )