Cyclone Fani affects 1.48 lakh people, 37 killed: Reports

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Cyclone Fani affects 1.48 lakh people, 37 killed: Reports
Cyclone Fani affects 1.48 lakh people, 37 killed: Reports

Odisha : Cyclone Fani has hit around 1 crore, 48 lakh people in Odisha, said reports on Tuesday.

Odisha State Disaster Management Authority Spokesperson Sangram Mohapatra told ANI, "One crore, 48 lakh people have been affected in 155 blocks. Almost 5.8 lakh houses have been damaged. As many as 37 casualties have been reported till now."

Earlier on Tuesday, the Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan paid a visit to the cyclone hit areas in Odisha.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also held a review meeting with the senior officials to discuss the further strategy to restore Odisha. The Chief Minister has donated his year’s salary to the Chief Minister’s relief fund.

In a meeting chaired by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also announced a relief fund of Rs 1,000 crore for the restoration of the state. This amount is in addition to Rs 341 crore which the Centre had sanctioned in advance to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

“Power connectivity needs to be restored on a priority basis as drinking water supply, telephone connectivity and banking operations need electricity,” said Cabinet Secretary Sinha reportedly said.

In West Bengal, Cyclone Fani was also a storm of politics as a report claimed that the state government officials did not give time to PMO to review and assess the damge. 

As per the PMO, the Centre had even written to the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government about the planned review meeting but the state government replied that the officials are busy with election duty.

“PM Narendra Modi is currently in Odisha taking stock of the situation due to cyclone Fani. He also wanted to do the same for West Bengal…However the state government has replied that the govt officials are busy with election duty and hence the review meeting should not be held,” PMO sources said on Monday.