Rain Damage In Odisha: Govt Asks Collectors To File Assessment Reports By This Date

Bhubaneswar: With reports of casualty and damage to private properties due to continuous rain for the last two days coming from different parts of Odisha, the state government on Tuesday directed district collectors to file the damages assessment reports by September 22.

Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Jena in a letter to the collectors said due to heavy rainfall in different parts of the state during 2nd week of September and consequent localised flood, there are reports of damage to private properties besides some human casualties.

Stating that assessment of damage to the properties in different sectors such as houses, agriculture (crop loss of 33% & above), sand cast of agriculture land, loss of cattle and enumeration of beneficiaries have to be taken up on priority, Jena said the assessment reports would enable payment of the assistance as per norms of SDRF to the affected persons expeditiously to enable them to repair the damages and restore livelihood.

The collectors have been told to take note of the following points for damage assessment and disbursement of assistance:

• Geo-tagged and time stamped photograph of damaged houses and crop area must be taken during assessment. In case of house damage, photo of the beneficiary concerned may be taken along with damaged house.
• In case of houses fully damaged or severely inundated for more than two days, the affected households are to be provided with assistance for clothing and utensils in addition to the prescribed house building assistance.
• Crop loss assessment has to be carried out by the joint teams consisting of revenue, agriculture and horticulture personnel. The supervising officers will conduct test checks to ensure correctness in tie assessment.
• The cases of loss of lives may be expeditiously processed online through Disaster Assistance Monitoring & Payment System (DAMPS) for sanction and payment ex gratia to next of kin of the deceased.
• Since the damage has occurred in a limited scale, steps may be taken for
  disbursement of assistance from available funds without waiting for allotment from SRC.
• All disbursement must be done through DBT i.e., by way of transfer of the amount to the account of the beneficiaries.
• In case of house damage, a piece of polythene should be provided to the deserving affected household in the place.