Cyclone Fani: IPS Officers Deputed To 11 Dists For Rescue, Relief Operations

Cuttack: In view of the extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani, which is most likely to hit the Odisha coast in the next 48 hours, director-general of police (DGP), R.P. Sharma on Wednesday deputed 11 senior IPS officers to supervise and monitor rescue and relief operations in 11 coastal districts.

The DGP directed the senior officers to proceed immediately to the likely to be affected districts to oversee police arrangements and coordinate with the district administration and other connected line agencies and field functionaries for rescue and relief operations.

The name of the IPS officers in charge of the districts is as follows:

SK Upadhyay, ADG CID, CB, Cuttack (Jajpur), Pranabindu Acharya, ADG, Railways & Coastal Security, Bhubaneswar (Jagatsinghpur), Vinaytosh Mishra, ADG, Modernisation, Cuttack (Bhadrak), RP Koche, ADG (Operations), Bhubaneswar (Khurda), SK Priyadarshi, IG, CR, Cuttack (Puri), Arun Bothra, IG, CID, CB, Odisha, Cuttack (Kendrapara), Amitabh Thakur, IG, SAP, Bhubaneswar (Ganjam), Ghanshyam Upadhyay, IG, SIW, Bhubaneswar (Nayagarh), Amitendra Nath Sinha, DIG, ER, Balasore (Balasore), Nikhil Kumar Kanodia, DIG, EOW, Bhubaneswar (Cuttack), Shafeen Ahamed K, DIG, Hdqrs, Cuttack (Mayurbhanj)

Presiding over a cyclone preparedness meeting, Sharma directed the IPS officers to ensure that additional logistics and manpower are available in the police stations and the likely to be affected districts. All communication equipment shall be made available to all field functionaries for uninterrupted communication, he said.

Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Sharma said the state control room has been geared up to remain in touch 24×7 with all field units of the affected districts, while SPs of the affected districts have been asked to make their control rooms and the district intelligence bureau (DIB) functional round the clock.

Referring to the state of preparedness for rescue operations in the affected districts, the DGP said ODRAF units have already been pre-positioned with all equipment and gadgets.

He also said that the leave of all policemen including IPS officers has been cancelled while those who are on leave have been asked to resume duty immediately.

“Evacuation and rescue of affected people to safer places, restoration of road communication immediately after the cyclone and proper distribution of relief materials with zero causality are among the priorities of Odisha Police,” Sharma said.