Bhubaneswar: A six-member inter-ministerial team led by Saurav Ray, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Home Affairs, completed its field visit to assess damages caused due to remnants of cyclone Jawad in Odisha, an official said on Monday.
After visiting the affected areas of Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Jajpur and Kendrapara districts, the team held a discussion with Odisha government officials here on Monday.
Ray mentioned that they saw heavy loss to farmers at the ground-level caused by the cyclonic rain. He opined that the famers who suffered loss needed governmental support and assistance, said an official.
The field-level assessment of damages caused due to remnants of cyclone in the state would be completed within a week and the report will be submitted to the Central team, the official said.
As per very preliminary estimates, standing crop on more than 5.78 lakh hectares area in 131 blocks of 12 districts were severely damaged due to the natural disaster. The affected districts are — Ganjam, Bhadrak, Puri, Cuttack, Balasore, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khordha, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra there was bumper crop in many districts this year. The crops were almost in ripening condition when the cyclone came near Odisha coast causing heavy rainfall.
The farmers were given advisories to harvest the crop, and bring those to safe places as per the forecast of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The farmers also tried their best.
However, all the ripened crop could not be harvested and collected within a short span of time. Besides, many variety of paddies and other major crops were nearing the ripen stage, the Chief Secretary pointed out at the meeting.
–IANS