Odisha govt pegs flood damage at Rs 219 cr in 5 districts

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government today came out with the damage assessment report on the recent floods that wreaked havoc in several districts of the state and pegged the total cost of damages in 5 districts at nearly Rs 219 crore.

The report covered the cost of damages during the floods in five districts namely Kalahandi, Korpaut, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur.

The report has estimated a total of Rs 218.72 crore worth of properties damaged during the floods. The estimate included damages worth Rs 25.37 crore attributed to Water Resources department, Rs 60.79 crore to Public Works, Rs 4.63 crore to Energy, Rs 48 crore to Rural Development, Rs 49.98 crore to Panchayatiraj, Rs 67.35 lakh to animal resources, Rs 10.09 crore to SC/ST, Rs 4.36 crore to Agriculture, Rs 31 lakh to Forests and Environment, Rs 1.66 crore to Women and Child Development, and Rs 3.84 crore to Mass Education department.

The report also stated that total damage to individual houses has been estimated to be Rs 7.22 crore. Similarly, a total of 23,991 hectare of agricultural land has also been destroyed during the floods, the report said.

The state government has sought Centre's assistance in reinstating railway bridges, national highways and telephone line connection that were damaged during the floods.

Earlier on July 29, three senior IAS officers - Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department Asit Tripathy, Forest and Environment Additional Secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary R Balakrishnan submitted field inspection and damage assessment reports of three districts Rayagada, Bhadrak and Jajpur to the Chief Minister.