Bhubaneswar: Cyclone Fani that hit the Odisha coast on May 3 damaged Rs 524 crore worth of assets, according to the Housing and Urban Development Department assessment.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary G. Mathivathanan on Tuesday said Rs 524 crore infrastructure was damaged by the cyclone in 53 urban local bodies in 14 districts.
According to him, 291 km of the drainage system, 750 km of roads and 26,821 street light points were affected. Parks, public and community toilets were also damaged. Around 5,000 workers and 600 supervisors were engaged in sanitation work in the urban areas.
Information and Public Relations Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh said the Skill Development and Technical Education Department assessed Rs 30.50 crore damage to engineering colleges, ITIs and skill development centres.
On relief distribution, he said of the 17.92 lakh identified eligible beneficiaries, 16.10 lakh have received cash, announced by the state government. Similarly, 15.44 lakh people received rice and 4.14 lakh of the 7.53 lakh either polythene sheets or cash in lieu of it.
Fani impact: Power links yet to be restored in Puri
Even after 11 days of cyclone Fani, the Puri district in Odisha is yet to get power connectivity. The cyclone that hit the coast on May 3 damaged the basic infrastructures like electricity, telecom and water.
While the state government claimed to have restored about 93 per cent piped water supply in rural areas of the district, the people are anxiously waiting for the revival of power supply.
"Restoring power connection in Puri is a big challenge for us due to large-scale damage to the infrastructure. But we will start supplying power in Puri and Konark towns from May 15," said Information and Public Relations Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh.
He said 75 towers of 220 kV and 25 towers of 132 kV were damaged by the cyclone.
Apart from Odisha, skilled workers from other states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana and Kerala, have been engaged to restore power supply in the district.
The telecom service is also in poor shape and the service providers have restored only 42 per cent of operations in the district.
Airtel had positioned six cells on wheels, while Reliance Jio has set up three and Vodafone-Idea one in Puri, Singh said. Out of 41 telephone exchanges of the BSNL, 29 are functional in the district, he added.
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