Odisha steps up evacuation Ops to shift 11.54 lakh people

Bhubaneswar: With time slipping away, the Odisha government had to rev up its evacuation plan on war-footing to shift 11.54 lakh people for cyclone FANI.

The cyclone was predicted to hit Odisha coast between 10 am and 12 noon tomorrow. However, the cyclone expected to hit between 8 and 10 up to 12 noon has forced the authorities to speed up the operation and revise its target.

Earlier, the plan was to evacuate 8 lakh people living in low lying areas to safer places. Later, it was revised to 11.54 lakh.

As per government data, 3.31 lakh people were evacuated by 3 pm today. Ganjam was at the top of the list where maximum numbers of people were displaced.

The officials have been directed to achieve the target by this evening.

People from 15 districts will be moved to 4852 cyclone/flood shelters identified.