After 28-days, 48% Puri residents still without electricity

About 48 percent of the electricity consumers in Odisha's Puri are yet to get back their power connection even though 28-days have passed after the extremely severe cyclone ''Fani'' made landfall on May 3, officials said Saturday.

This was revealed at a meeting when the new Revenue and Disaster Management minister Sudam Marandi assessed restoration work in the cyclone-affected districts.

The minister stressed on repair and restoration of primary school buildings damaged in to cyclone before reopening of schools after summer vacation. He also emphasized on quick restoration of the Anganwadi Centres, health institutions and electricity in all the affected areas

"Only 1,51,889 out of 2,91,171 affected consumers (52%) have got electricity in Puri district within a month," the official said, adding that water supply in both urban and rural areas has already been restored.

The extremely severe cyclonic storm ''Fani'' had made a landfall on May 3 near Puri and had affected 14 districts of the state. Nearly 1.65 crore people were affected while 64 people lost their lives in the disaster.

Read: Weather Department Had Sent 65 Lakh SMS To Update People About Cyclone Fani, Nearly Half Were For The Farmers All Across The Eastern And Southern India

Out of 25,01,131 affected consumers in the districts Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri, Nayagarh, Khurdha, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur, electricity has been restored to 23,36,584 consumers till May 31, an official said.

While 99 percent of consumers have got electricity in Cuttack district, power has been restored in 96 percent of the consumers in Khurda. All the consumers in Kendrapara and Kagatsinghpur have got power supply.

Meanwhile, the state government claimed that the damage assessment by the departments and the Collectors is almost over and the memorandum to the Government of India will be submitted soon.

An Inter-Ministerial Central Team visited Odisha from May 12 to 15 and conducted an on the spot assessment of the damages caused due to the cyclone. A preliminary report of damage amounting to Rs. 11,942.68 crore was shared with the central team, the official said.

COMMENInternational Development Partners- EU, World Bank and UN Systems along with Departments and various institutions are also separately carrying out a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) on the cyclone ''Fani'', said special relief commissioner BP Sethi said.