Odisha estimates Rs 9,336-cr loss due to Cyclone Fani, seeks assistance of Rs 5,227 crore from Centre

Bhubaneswar: A month after braving the deadly cyclonic storm Fani, the Odisha government has completed the exercise to assess the damage caused by the extremely severe cyclonic storm that hit Odisha coast on 3 May. The government has estimated the loss due to the natural calamity at Rs 9,336 crore.

Racked by Cyclone Fani. Photo credit Bibhuti Mohapatra

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said different departments of the state government have attributed the loss to the public properties to be Rs 6,643.63 crore while an amount of Rs 2,692.63 crore is required for relief measures for the affected people.

“In total, the revised loss to the public properties and requirement of fund for relief measures has been estimated at Rs 9,336 crore,” Sethi said.

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State seeks over Rs 5,000 crore central assistance

Going by the norms of assistance under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), an amount of Rs 5,227.68 crore is required for undertaking relief and restoration measures, he added.

Therefore, the Odisha government is seeking an assistance of Rs 5,227.68 crore from NDRF in order to meet the expenditure of the ongoing relief and restoration measures, the SRC said. As of now, the Odisha has released Rs 1,357.14 crore to various districts and departments towards disaster response. In April, when Fani was declared a ‘severe cyclonic storm’, the Centre had released an advance financial assistance of Rs 1,086 crore to four states – Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — for preventive and relief measures.

Of the total Rs 1,086 crore, Andhra Pradesh got Rs 200.25 crore, Odisha got Rs 340.875 crore, Tamil Nadu received Rs 309.375 crore and West Bengal Rs 235.50 crore.

In its preliminary damage assessment report, the state government had calculated a loss of Rs 11,942.62 crore due to the cyclone and submitted the same to the Central team which visited Odisha during 12-15 May this year. After a village by village assessment through various teams constituted by the district collectors, the final assessment of damages and losses has been made, Sethi said.

Over 5.5 lakh houses damaged

A total of 20,367 villages in affected 14 districts are part of the assessment, he said, adding, the cyclone-affected 1.6 crore of people and 1.88 lakh hectares of crop area. A total of 5,56,761 houses have either been fully or severely or partially damaged in the cyclone. The total death toll due to Fani was 64 while 12 people received grievous injuries. Besides, 2,650 large animals, 3,631 small animals and 53,26,905 poultry birds have been lost in the natural calamity, the SRC said.

Energy department suffers maximum loss

As power infrastructure was the worst affected due to Fani, the loss of the energy department is in the top position with Rs 1,159. 77 crore. The loss incurred by water resources department was Rs 370.90 crore, public works department Rs 868.26 crore, rural development Rs 435.77 crore, housing and urban development Rs 498.22 crore and Panchayati Raj and drinking water Rs 475.98 crore.

The agriculture department has estimated a loss of Rs 175.69 crore while Rs 33.43 crore loss was estimated by the fisheries and animal resources development department.

Similarly, women and child development department calculated its loss at Rs 74.31 crore, SC & ST development at Rs 8.66 crore, handlooms, textiles and handicrafts at Rs 17.41 crore, cooperation Rs 32.88 crore, higher education Rs 296 crore, health and family welfare at Rs163.23 crore, forest and environment Rs 537.80 crore, tourism at Rs 524.02 crore, skill development and technical education Rs 57.56 crore, commerce and transport Rs 12.19 crore, revenue Rs 100 crore, general administration at Rs 255.94 crore, MSME at Rs105.57 crore and home at Rs 113.97 crore.

Besides, the loss calculated by the industries department is Rs 152.69 crore, school and mass education department at Rs 417.83 crore, social security and empowerment of persons with disabilities at Rs 18.27 crore, labour and ESI at Rs 78 lakh, Jagannath Temple at Rs 5.10 crore, culture at Rs 78.34 crore, science and technology at Rs 6.63 crore and electronics & IT at Rs 14.11 crore. The loss occurred to public properties including cyclone shelters is Rs 50.05 crore.

During his visit to Odisha after the cyclone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced Rs 1,000 crore aid from NDRF to Odisha. However, so far, the state has received Rs 788.87 crore from the Centre. According to official sources, a total of Rs 1,720.24 crore (including the Rs 788.87 crore from the Centre) was available with the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), out of which Rs 1,357.14 crore has been released to various departments while the balance amount is available with the SDRF now.

The cyclone Fani affected 14 districts of Odisha are Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khordha, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh and Puri. The worst affected districts are Puri, Khordha and Cuttack. The government had evacuated 15,57,170 persons prior to the landfall of Fani.