Cyclone FANI: Odisha deploys 11 IPS officers for relief & rescue ops

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government today appointed 11 IPS officers in equal number of districts to oversee relief and rescue operations in view of the impending cyclonic storm FANI.

The police officials are SK Upadhyay (Jajpur), Pranabindu Acharya (Jagatsinghpur), Vinaytosh Mishra (Bhadrak), RP Koche (Khurda), SK Priyadarshi (Puri), Arun Bothra (Kendrapara), Amitabh Thakur (Ganjam), Ghanshyam Upadhyay (Nayagarh), Amitendra Nath Sinha (Balasore), Nikhil Kumar Kanodia (Cuttack) and Shefeen Ahamed K (Mayurbhanj).

The government has also assigned 11 IAS officers to supervise the relief, rehabilitation and restoration work in the districts that are likely to be affected by the cyclone.

Collectors in the all coastal and adjoining districts of Gajapati, Nayagarh, Khordha, Cuttack, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj have been advised to identify all vulnerable people living in kutcha houses or living near the coast or in low lying areas, said Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi.

They have been instructed to start the evacuation of all those living in such areas near the coast from Wednesday and complete the process by Thursday afternoon. The vulnerable people will be shifted to multipurpose cyclone/flood shelters and other safe shelters.

Arrangements have already been made for free kitchen, safe drinking water, lighting, health and sanitation facilities at the shelters, he added. As many as 879 Multi-purpose cyclone/ flood shelters are kept in readiness for sheltering people to be evacuated.

All 28 teams of NDRF, 20 ODRAF units and other Fire Services units are being dispatched to areas on a priority basis.

Cyclonic Storm FANI is likely to cross Odisha coast near Satapada in Puri district on May 3 afternoon with maximum sustained wind speed of 175-185 kmph gusting to 205 kmph. After landfall, it is likely to pass through Khordha, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore districts, IMD sources said.

On the other hand, as per the forecast by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the United States Navy, Cyclonic Storm FANI would cross near Balukhanda in Puri on May 3 afternoon. The wind speed before landfall would be about 175 kmph and pass through Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack (Niali), Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts before going to West Bengal.

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