As death toll due to the Titli cyclone and subsequent floods in Odisha increased to 52, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday raised the ex gratia amount from ₹4 lakh to ₹10 lakh each for the next of the kin of the deceased.
Mr. Patnaik declared this when he came to visit this non-descript village in the worst hit Gajapati district. He interacted with the victims of the storm and landslide of Gangabada panchayat at Champapur and promised rehabilitation and relocation of the ravaged hamlets.
Orphaned children
He also announced that a vulnerability mapping of all the villages in the hilly regions will be done and if needed, they will be relocated to safer places with all amenities.
In Champapur, the Chief Minister met the two motherless children, Simanchal Bhuyan and Kartik Bhuyan, who lost their father in the landslide at nearby Baraghara on October 11, when cyclone Titli had its landfall near Palasa in Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Patnaik declared that the State government will take care of all such children who have been orphaned by the cyclone.
The former sarpanch of the Gangabada panchayat, Sabitri Bhuyan, narrated the problems being faced by the native tribals in the aftermath of the Titli cyclone.
Mr. Patnaik then declared that all the hamlets on the Mahendragiri hills will be relocated to safer plain areas at the foothills. He also handed over land pattas to ten families of landslide-hit Baraghara. This tribal hamlet with 76 families will be relocated to Dengasahi mouza.
Several other villages of the Gangabada panchayat would also be relocated, Mr. Patnaik added.
Most villagers of the cyclone and landslide-hit villages of the panchayat expressed their willingness to be shifted to safe areas as landslide has also destroyed their agricultural fields.
Mr. Patnaik then flew down to Bhanjanagar area of the Ganjam district and met the cyclone and flood victims of the area.
Meanwhile, announcing the official death toll in Bhubaneswar, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said that maximum number of 39 deaths was confirmed in Gajapati district, 12 deaths were reported from Ganjam district and one from the adjoining Kandhamal district.
Reports of 10 more deaths were being verified, he added. Mr. Padhi said according to initial estimates, damages in the State were to approximately ₹2,200 crore. Final report will be prepared in the next two days, he added.