Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make an aerial survey on Saturday of areas hit by cyclone Phailin in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to see the damage caused. He has already expressed distress over the extent of damage caused to property, crops and livestock by the cyclone that hit these states on October 12.
He has announced Rs 2 lakh as ex-gratia assistance to the kin of each of those killed and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured.
Reviewing the impact of the cyclone earlier this month, Singh had complimented the efforts of the authorities of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, relief workers, National Disaster Management Authority, National Disaster Relief Force and the Indian Meteorological Department, for preventive measures they took which resulted in containing the effects of the cyclone on human life.
He was relieved to learn that even though Phailin was a very severe cyclonic storm, the loss of life has been contained to a very large extent because of the preventive measures taken in advance.
The Prime Minister had earlier this week cited these disasters to press for urgent steps to improve disaster management capabilities.Singh is scheduled to make an aerial survey of Ganjam, Puri, Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts worst-hit by the Cyclone Phailin and the resultant floods, sources said in Bhubaneshwar.
Though Cyclone Phailin had hit the Odisha coast on October 12 evening, so far no central minister, except Srikant Jena, who hails from the state, has visited any of the areas hit by the twin calamities, sources said.
Though the state unit of BJP had announced that party president Rajnath Singh would visit the calamity-hit areas on November 1, the programme was later deferred. Odisha government had already submitted two memoranda to the Centre seeking assistance of Rs 5832 crore.
While the state demanded Rs 4242 crore towards damage due to Cyclone Phailin, Rs 1590 crore was sought towards the second phase floods.