Ganesh Kendale
BHUBANESWAR: State govt is planning to evacuate up to 10 lakh people, if required, from vulnerable districts with severe cyclonic storm Dana likely to make landfall in Kendrapada district on Thursday night.
Govt has identified people to be evacuated from 3,000 vulnerable pockets. “We are ready to evacuate around 10 lakh people from vulnerable areas, if required.Govt is fully prepared to deal with any eventuality.
I urge people not to panic and cooperate with the administration,” said revenue and disaster management minister Suresh Pujari. The special relief commissioner (SRC) has asked collectors of 14 districts to start the evacuation process from Wednesday.
As many as 6,000 cyclone shelters have been kept ready with basic amenities to accommodate the evacuees. Six senior IAS officers have been asked to supervise rescue and relief operation in six most vulnerable districts — Puri, Kendrapada, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur and Mayurbhanj.
CM Mohan Majhi on Tuesday asked all MLAs to remain in their respective constituencies and expedite the rescue and relief operations and coordinate with the district administrations to deal with the cyclone and heavy rain.
C M Majhi wrote on X that MLAs must provide necessary support to the people of their areas at this time of crisis. North Odisha is likely to face the maximum brunt of the approaching severe cyclonic storm Dana that is expected to cross between Puri and Sagar Island.
Dana is likely to make landfall with a wind speed of 100-120 km per hour between Thursday night and Friday morning, causing extremely heavy rain in seven coastal districts.
“The depression over east-central Bay of Bengal has intensified into a deep depression and lay centred about 690 km southwest of Paradip, 740 km southsoutheast of Sagar Island and 710 km south-southeast of Khepupara in Bangladesh by 5.30 pm on Tuesday,” read IMD’s latest bulletin.
State govt has cancelled leaves of all employees, including doctors. As many as 8,000 pregnant women have been shifted to hospitals
