Bhubaneswar: Normalcy is fast returning to the most of the areas affected by the devastating cyclonic storm Fani that hit Odisha on May 3.
The restoration work is in full swing under the supervision of the government and support from people.
“Efforts of engaged officers, employees and volunteers with dedicated spirit have yielded more output in the daily life of people and has brought normalcy in ravaged areas”, the Odisha Information and Public Relations Department (I&PR) said in a release.
Energy infrastructure has gained pre-FANI status through major repairing and strengthening in all affected districts and more than 90% consumers have been given electricity connection.
In Puri, electricity restoration work is being carried out in full swing. Daily necessities of affected people have been fulfilled as relief assistance and monthly pension assistance have been disbursed. There is a visible development in the field of water supply, health services and safety of animal resources, the department said.
Relief Distribution
•Over 95% of affected beneficiaries have been given with cash component as relief assistance. In Puri district 94.4% and in Khurda 98.7% of beneficiaries have received the cash component. The percentage of such beneficiaries in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack and BMC have been 95%, 99.31%, 97.7%, and 87.4% respectively. Nearly 95% of beneficiaries have been covered by rice component distribution that comes to 96.6%, 99%, 97.34%, 98.5%, 97.7% and 81.9% in Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Khurda and BMC respectively.
•As many as 88.9% beneficiaries in Puri district have been distributed polythene or cash in lieu of Polythene while the percentage of such beneficiaries has been 87.4% and 84.3% in BMC and Khurda.
•Around 90% of beneficiaries have been disbursed additional monthly pension in the affected districts and the percentage of such beneficiaries in Khurda, BMC, Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur has come to 94%, 64.3%, 98.8%, 83.9%, 97.5% and 98% respectively.
Finance
•The Principal Secretary, Finance Department held a Video Conference with the Collectors of the 14 cyclone affected Districts on Monday and advised them to convene the District Consultative Committee meeting latest by 31st May 2019 and to facilitate assessment of crop loss by 25th of May and organize camps to collect applications from the cyclone victims for sanction of fresh loans and restructuring of the existing loans.
•The Collectors have also been urged to see that banks come forward to sanction consumption loan of Rs. 10,000/- immediately to affected people without any collateral.
Health Services
•Health and Family Welfare Department has taken utmost care for health services and awareness campaign in the affected areas. 46 nos of medical relief centres are functioning in Puri. 20 doctors and 200 nos of multipurpose health workers are working to provide immediate health services in the affected GPs of Puri and Khurda.
•More than 145699 no of open water sources have been disinfected by now and more than 21112 sanitation and cleanliness drives have been undertaken by the Gram Kalyan Samitis and other NGOs. More than 28 lakh 55 thousand ORS packets and 29.04 lakh Hologen tablets have been distributed among the cyclone affected people.
Telecommunication
•Substantial progress in the Telecommunication Sector has been made possible while 87% of mobile towers in Khurda district have become operational. In Puri and Cuttack districts 64% and 96% of towers are functioning respectively. Mobile tower operation has been 88%, 59% and 96% in Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack Town respectively.
•21 nos of Cell on Wheel (CoW) have been active in Puri town along with 25 nos of BTS. These CoWs include BSNL, Airtel, Jio and Vodafone-Idea.
•BSNL fixed landline Exchange in Khurda and Cuttack have been 100%. Operational while in Puri 38 Exchange out of 41 are working.
Banking Services
•As on today, Bank Branches operational in Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Ganjam and Kendrapara are 94.14%, 98.63%, 99.49%, 97.56%, 99.77% and 100% respectively.
•While ATMs functioning in Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Ganajam and Kendrapara have been 37.45%, 77.28%, 80.84%, 81.48%, 100% & 84.8% respectively.
Power Restoration
•All the consumers in Cuttack CDD-I division have been supplied with power connection while in CDD-II, 64196 out of 69031 consumers have been connected. In Cuttack CED, 71200 urban and rural consumers out of 95599 have been given connection. Till date, 92% of electricity consumers in Cuttack district have got electricity.
•While connectivity to all the consumers have been completed in Bhubaneswar BCDD-I Division, in BCDD-II Division, 147531 rural and urban consumers have been provided with power connection. 108150 consumers of rural and urban areas out of 109984 in BED Division have been supplied with power. Power Supply in Khurda district has been reached up to 94% till date.
•All the feeders in JED Division of Jagatsinghpur have been operational and 99882 consumers out of 116215 connected with power in Jagatsinghpur district. In Paradeep PED, all 24 feeders have been activated, enabling 93394 consumers out of 101228 to get electricity connection.
•In Puri, all-out effort is being made to restore electricity as early as possible. More than 19000 consumers have been supplied with electricity in Puri district til now while 12 feeders out of 56 and 5 feeders out of 28 in PED and NED Division respectively have been operational.
Forest & Environment
•Communication and transportation system have been improved by clearing 1977 roads which were obstructed due to FANI. Nearly 145000 uprooted trees have been shifted. On the other hand, the Government have taken steps to plant 1,30,00,000 trees in the affected areas.
•As on today, Odisha Forest Development Corporation has cut 8900 uprooted trees in Puri town while it has cut 27900 uprooted trees in Bhubaneswar city. So far OFDC has cut 36800 uprooted trees.