Senior officials to oversee flood management in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Saturday deputed seven senior IAS officers to oversee flood management in the affected districts of the state.

Panchayati Raj Secretary D.K. Singh has been assigned to oversee the flood management in Cuttack district and Industries Secretary Hemant Sharma will be in charge of Kendrapada district, said an official.

Tourism Secretary Vishal Dev and Revenue Secretary Bishnupada Sethi have been given the charge of Balasore and Bhadrak districts, respectively. Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Secretary Vir Vikram Yadav and MSME Secretary Satyabrata Sahu will oversee the flood situation in Jajpur and Jagatsinghpur districts, respectively.

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena informed that District Collectors have been asked to conduct an elaborate damage assessment of houses due to floods as per the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) guidelines.

"The government has asked all Collectors to complete damage assessment of houses at the earliest as per SDRF guidelines/relief code and extend assistance to eligible cases as per norms at the earliest. This applies to all districts which witnessed heavy rainfall and flood," said Jena.

Besides, the District Collectors have been asked to take up crop damage assessment at the earliest and submit a report for consideration of assistance. All cases of death due to wall collapse and drowning will be promptly inquired into, he added.The report will be submitted to the SRC for consideration of ex-gratia as early as possible.