OdishaPlus Bureau
Cyclone Fani hit the Odisha coast exactly a month ago causing incalculable devastation to infrastructure, greenery and people’s livelihood.While there has been a lot of improvement in the situation after Fani,yet electricity continues to be elusive. The cyclone affected 1.65 crore people in 14 districts while human casualty was restricted to 64.
Review
In Puri district – which got the maximum blow – only about 52% of the consumers have been able to get back the power supply. This was revealed at a meeting by the new Revenue and Disaster Management minister Sudam Marandi who took stock of the restoration work in the cyclone-affected districts.
According to an official in the energy department, only 1, 51,889 out of 2, 91,171 affected consumers’ houses have been reconnected in Puri district .Gladly, water supply in both urban and rural areas of the cyclone ravaged districts is doing fine.
Monsoon
The big challenge for the government is to fix and restore normalcy in primary school buildings damaged in the cyclone and ahead of reopening after summer vacation. Schools throughout Odisha will be reopening on 19th.Restoration of the Anganwadi Centres, health institutions and electricity in all affected areas too is pressing.
As for damage estimates, the departments and the Collectors are said to be working overtime and the final memorandum to the Government of India will be submitted sooner than later. It may be recalled that the preliminary report of damage was arrived at Rs 11,942.68 crore which was shared with the central team which visited the cyclone-hit districts last month.
The big challenge for the government is to fix and restore normalcy in primary school buildings damaged in the cyclone and ahead of reopening after summer vacation.
According to special relief commissioner BP Sethi, International Development Partners- EU, World Bank and UN Systems along with Departments and various institutions are separately carrying out a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) on the cyclone.
Shelter
Yet another worry is that the Southwest Monsoon likely to reach Odisha in another ten days. That makes it impossible for those who have lost their houses in the cyclone. Rebuilding the houses would take lot of time. The Puri district administration had of course deployed hundreds of teams for house damage assessment and the reports are said to be in place.
All said,Puri and the adjoining districts still have a long way to go to recover from the storm that caused untold damage.
