State earmarks over Rs 600 cr to protect seashore villages from cyclone threat

PNS | Bhubaneswar

The State Government has decided to include all villages within five km radius of the seashore under the disaster mitigation plan. Special plan would be chalked out to protect the villages from the possible onslaught of the cyclone. Rs 609.40 crore has been earmarked for this purpose.It would be implemented under the aegis of the National Cyclone Disaster Mitigation Project (NCDMP) plan. The villages near the Chilka lake will also be included in the programme.
A total of 311 villages of Puri district, 194 villages of Kendrapara, 76 villages in Jagatsingpur, 217 villages in Balasore and 18 villages in Ganjam district would be included in the plan.While the Centre would bear nearly 75 per cent of the total expenses, the rest would be borne by the State Government.

Rs 190 crore will be spent on the repair of the saline embankment which has been created by the rising sea tide, Rs 130 crore to be spent on building cyclone centres, Rs 195 crore for connecting roads to the village having less than 500 population, Rs 23.03 crore to be spent of protection of mangrove forest, Rs 17.68 crore on creating awareness on super cyclone and Rs 53.69 crore to be spent on implementation of the project.Water proof high frequency mobile would be given to fishermen.In each village, one VHF would be installed. All the VHF would be run by battery. Special cyclone centres would be built for the fishermen. Fishermen would be provided 10,000 boats and life-jackets.

In this connection, OSDMA sent a proposal of Rs 400.67 crore to the NDMA which was later approved by it. A World Bank team has already visited the cyclone prone areas.Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy on Monday held a high-level meeting to chalk out plan to meet any possible cyclone in the coming days.Indian Metrological Department (IMD) presented a documentation on how can people be saved during super cyclone and how can it be predicted.Orissa generally witnesses cyclone from March to May and October to first week of December.