Berhampur: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs today visited different villages in cyclone-battered Ganjam district and assessed the relief and rehabilitation measures taken by the state government in the aftermath of the natural calamities like Phailin and Hudhud.
Ganjam was worst-affected when the Phailin hit the district on October 12, 2013. The district administration also had taken measures by evacuating the people from the coastal villages to the shelter centers and safer places before the Hudhud hit Visakhapatanm town in Andhra Pradesh on October 12, 2014.
The six-member committee headed by its chairman P Bhattacharya visited the cyclone shelter centre at Kanamana and interacted with its maintenance committee and the housing sites at Narayanpur and Upulaputi near Gopalpur-on sea. The cyclone-proof houses were constructed under the World Bank aided Odisha Disaster Recovery Project (ODRP).
"We have visited some of the areas and seen the measures taken by the state government," said Bhattacharya.
"We will press the problems of the people in the Parliament and ensure the Odisha people get maximum benefits," he said.
"The committee will also try to ensure that Odisha gets more cyclone aids from the Centre," added Baijayanta Panda, one of the committee members
Before they visited the sites, the committee members had discussion with the district administration about the measures taken during the natural calamities at Gopalpur. The committee is also scheduled to discuss with the state government officials tomorrow at Bhubaneswar.
The committee members also interacted with the cyclone-hit people about their problems.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated 47 houses, constructed under the ODRP at Narayanpur on December 28, 2014. The government has decided to construct pucca houses with infrastructure facilities in all villages located within the five-km from the sea cost on the World Bank aided OPDP. The decision was taken after several thatched houses had damaged in the coastal villages due to the cyclone Phailin.
In Ganjam, the district administration has decided to construct as many as 16981 pucca houses in 107 villages under five coastal blocks. The total outlay for the project was yet to be finalised, but each house costs around Rs 3 lakh, said an officer.