Central Team To Visit Cyclone-Hit South Odisha Districts Today

Bhubaneswar: The seven-member Central team, which arrived here in two groups, will visit the cyclone-hit districts of Ganjam and Gajapati districts on Thursday.

While five members of the team reached the Odisha capital on Wednesday evening, two members arrived this morning.

The team, led by Joint Secretary (Centre-States), Ministry of Home Affairs, S K Shahi has other members including Chief Engineer, Ministry of Power, Vandana Singhal; Regional Director, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Regional Office, Bhubaneswar, Rakesh Kumar;  Superintending Engineer (Coordination), Ministry of Water Resources, Regional Office, CWC, Bhubaneswar, Sushant Kumar Samal; Director, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Directorate of Rice Development, Patna, Virender Singh; senior consultant, Department of Drinking Water Supply & Sanitation, G R Zagar and Consultant, Finance Commission Division, Department of Expenditure, R B Kaul.

As scheduled, the team, after meeting with the senior officials of the state government, will proceed to Ganjam and Gajapati districts.

As informed by joint relief commissioner (JRC) Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra, the team were to proceed to these two districts in two groups. However, they will visit these two districts in one group due to the time constraint. “It has been decided that the team will visit the Ganjam district today and leave for the Gajapati district tomorrow. After the field visit, the team will have a meeting with senior officials at the State Secretariat in the evening on November 2,” he added.

Official sources said that the team is likely to visit the adjoining districts which were affected by the very severe cyclonic storm Titli.

After completing its visits, the team will submit the report to the Centre within eight days, the sources added.