Bhubaneswar: The largest cyclone of the century Amphan over the Bay Of Bengal has diminished and crossed over between West Bengal and Bangladesh Border. Though the Cyclone’s devastating force was over the Bay of Bengal, its impact over coastal districts of Odisha was extensive. The timely prediction and proper management of the administrative mechanism in the coastal districts of Odisha has helped save life and property. All through the crucial week, some officers who were deputed to oversee the situation in the Kendrapara district were hyperactive to the situation and worked tirelessly to avert any loss.
The officials in charge of the Kendrapara district Industries Secretary Hemant Sharma, Central Range DIG Asish Singh, Collector Samarth Verma and Superintendent of Police Niti Sekhar had a responsibility to mitigate the situation to which they did their best.
With the instructions of the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the officials were seen on the ground fighting a dual battle of Covid and Cyclone. The coordinated effort by them resulted in zero causality and minimal loss to property in the district. Their sincere work has got the praise from the people of the district.
While Kendrapara district is vulnerable to calamities such as cyclones, it was on alert ever since Cyclone Amphan was traced in the South Western part of Bay of Bengal. Even some had predicted the landfall will be over the district. The Chief Minister had ordered some of the most experienced officers to look after the situation in the district and the work started to keep all safe. People living in low lying areas were shifted to safer places and the officers ensured that not a single person is left in the dangerous low laying areas. Hemant Sharma had earlier worked as the Collector of Kendrapada and is aware of the ground realities in the district which helped a lot in managing the situation in the district. Likewise, Central Range DIG Asish Singh was busy in shifting the people to safer places, he was seen on ground requesting resistant people to shift to Cyclone shelters.
While the officers in charge were doing their duty to safeguard the people, some were busy in spreading wrong information to people sitting in their air conditioned rooms in the Capital. Former Member of Parliament Baijayant Panda made a tweet regarding death of a resident in the district and made the administration responsible for this. Kendrapara Collector Samarth Verma, who was busy in Cyclone management, not only responded to the tweet but clarified that the concerned person had died of heart attack and he had a pucca house of his own. And the death was not due to wall collapse in cyclone. The former MP later corrected his ignorance.
The administration’s active perusing of the situation resulted in minimal damage and zero causality. While this has added another feather in the success of the district, people are praising the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.