Odisha Panel Okays Rs 139 Crore To Boost Disaster Management

Bhubaneswar: A government committee has approved an expenditure of Rs 139 crore to enhance disaster management skills and training in Odisha.

Of this amount, Rs 39.58 crore was sanctioned for building more fire fighting units, Rs 65.35 crore for acquisition of hi-tech equipment and Rs 34 crore for the construction of offices for 10 units of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF).

The approval came at a meeting of the executive committee of the State Disaster Management Authority at the Lok Sabha Bhavan on Thursday. Suresh Chandra Mahapatra of the Development Commission chaired the meeting.

According to officials, the meeting focused on being prepared for the management of natural disasters in the face of changing geothermal temperatures and weather conditions. It also deliberated on the ability to cope with growing cities, human-wildlife conflicts, unknown viral infections and chemical disasters.

Moreover, the meeting also focused on erosion by the sea and decided to increase the height of salt dams to 6 meters to address the problem.

Additional Chief Secretary and Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena informed that 3,586 ODRAF, Fire Services and Civil Defence personnel were undergoing training at the Disaster Management Training Centre on the premises of the Revenue Officer Training Institute at Gothpatna, Bhubaneswar.

An estimated Rs 3.80 crore was sanctioned for purchasing new equipment for the training.

Additional SRC Prabhat Kumar Mohapatra said the current status of 814 multi-purpose flood shelters operating in 25 districts of the state has been audited. Following this, Rs 45 crore has been provided to the block and village development divisions concerned for repairing 795 shelters in 23 districts.

DGP Abhay, Additional Chief Secretary Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, SRC Bishnupada Sethi and IAS Commissioner cum Secretary Deoranjan Kumar Singh were also present at the meeting.

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