Odisha 'Zero Casualty' Claim Goes For A Six, Titli Cyclone Toll Rises To 52

The Odisha government on Wednesday confirmed 52 deaths due to the cyclone Titli which hit the state on October 11, and enhanced the compensation amount for the deceased from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh each.

Orisha government had been priding itself for 'Zero Casualty' and natural disaster preparedness. Food supplies and consumer welfare minister Surya Narayan Patro had claimed there were no deaths immediately after the cyclone. 

However, briefing media persons after a high-level meeting to take stock of the damage wrought by ‘Titli’ on Wednesday morning, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said: “Fifty-two people are confirmed dead while 10 other cases are being verified. However, not all the 52 bodies have been recovered. In some cases, we have announced a person dead after verifying it locally. Preliminary estimates have pegged the damage due to the cyclone at Rs 2200 crores of which the highest of about Rs 500 crores is in the road sector.”

The chief secretary said no decision had been taken yet on seeking financial assistance from the Centre for restoration and rehabilitation work. “The state government is trying to compensate the losses with funds available with the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). If we face a shortage of funds, we may approach the Centre,” he said.

Giving details of the death, special relief commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi, who was present in the review meeting, said 39 of the 52 people declared dead, as well as all 10 cases under verification, belonged to the worst hit Gajapati district. “Twelve people have been confirmed dead in Ganjam district of which four bodies have been recovered so far. The search for the rest is on. One death has been reported from Kandhamal district,” said the SRC.

Sethi said normalcy had returned in Ganjam and Rayagada districts while restoration and reconstruction work was still on in Gajapati.

Meanwhile, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who is on a day’s visit to Gangabad panchayat in Gajapati district, which accounted for 18 of the 52 deaths so far, announced the increase in ex-gratia amount for the deceased from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh each. Addressing the people at Champapur village, the chief minister said residents of the Baraghar village, which lost 15 people due to a landslide caused by Titli, would be brought and settled in the foothills while expenses on education of the children of the deceased would be taken care of by the state government.

Meanwhile, opposition BJP and Congress have lambasted the Naveen Patnaik government for what they called ‘hoodwinking’ the people. They pointed to the gross discrepancies in the figures released by the government about the number of people evacuated and the relief centres opened.

While the overall aggregated figures released by the SRC’s office claimed over 3.6 lakh people had been evacuated ahead of the cyclone, district-wise break-up added up to no more than 1.13 lakh, they pointed out. The number of relief centres also differed in two reports released by the SRC on Monday and Tuesday, they said.