Central team praises Odisha govt for relief, restoration work

Bhubaneswar: The inter-ministerial team on Wednesday praised the Odisha government for its relief and restoration work in the cyclone Fani affected districts.

“The state government has done a commendable job after the cyclone.It provided relief, food, polythene and financial assistance to the affected families,” said additional secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Vivek Bharadwaj.

Bharadwaj led the central team to Odisha and assessed the damage due to the cyclone that hit the state coast ravaging basic infrastructures in 14 districts.

He said that Puri district was the worst affected due to the severe cyclonic storm.

 He also assured full cooperation to the state government in the post-cyclone relief and restoration works.

The state government submitted a preliminary damage assessment report of about Rs 12,000 crore to th central team.

Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said that the state government will submit a full-fledged damage report to the Centre in subsequent phases.

“The state government has submitted a preliminary report.A full-fledged report will be prepared and submitted to the Centre,” he added.

Padhi also said that the state government has requested to relax the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms to facilitate immediate relief.