Mrunal Manmay Dash

Bhubaneswar: MLAs of opposition and the ruling party targeted the state government in the Odisha Assembly today by raising questions on the safety of cyclone shelters. Surprisingly, the Revenue and Disaster Management minister Sudam Marndi informed the Assembly that he does not have concrete data on insecure cyclone shelters that need repairing.

However, Marndi said that 759 multipurpose cyclone shelters are operating in six coastal districts of the state out of which 694 were built by Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) and 65 by Red Cross.

Earlier in the day, Congress and BJD MLAs slammed the State government over lack of proper motorable roads to many cyclone shelters in Odisha. They even sought details of repair work of unsafe cyclone shelters.

“Cyclone-affected people in Delang, Konark and Jatani are yet to get the relief money from the government. I want to know when cyclone shelters will be built for them,” Congress MLA, Sura Routray asked.

Similarly, BJD’s Pradeep Maharathy said “All the cyclone shelters had utensils to cook and diesel power generators to provide electricity. But 80% of those shelters don’t have these basic amenities now. What is the government doing about it?”

Sudam Marndi, in his reply, also said that “All the cyclone shelters will be audited soon to get actual data.”

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