Central team assesses Hudhud damage in Odisha’s Koraput, Gajapati districts

Reported by Ranjan Rath
Koraput, Nov 18:

An eight-member Central team arrived at Odisha’s Koraput town here this morning to assess the damage done by Cyclone Hudhud in the undivided Koraput district in October this year.

After its arrival at the BSF camp on a special helicopter at about 11.30 am, the team split into two groups and  left for cyclone-hit areas of Koraput and Gajapati districts.

The A team, led by Gopal Krishna Dwidevi, joint secretary, Home ministry, with three other members—Virendra Singh, director, Union Agriculture ministry, AS Parmar, additional director, ministry of Finance, and Ansul Rehman of ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation— arrived at Pottangi block by road and visited Sairai, Indira Colony and Veterinary hospital. Later they returned to the district headquarters and had a meeting with district collector Jamini Sarangi and other senior district officials.

The team is scheduled to visit Malkangiri district tomorrow.

The B team, led by RK Verma, chief engineer, ministry of Energy; RP Panda of Road Transport ministry; Unman Sarangi, additional director, Rural Development ministry and Atul Kumar Nayak, superintending engineer, Central Water Commission left for Gajapati district.

The team visited Mangarajpur panchayat of R Udayagiri block and Raibaguda and Jalang villages of Dangar gram panchayat of Raigarh block and took stock of the damaged houses, crops and roads in these areas.

The team later returned to Gajapati district headquarters and had a review meeting with district collector Manasi Nimbhal and other senior district officials.

The team is scheduled to visit the cyclone-hit areas of Rayagada district next morning.

The Central team, after arriving at the state capital in the evening tomorrow, will have a meeting with the chief secretary at the State Secretariat.

“We will submit our survey report to the Centre after a meeting with the state government,” Dwivedy told reporters at Koraput.