Too late, too small a aid for Odisha from the center for cyclone Phalin

Here is another effort from the Congress ruled government at the center to woo the people of Odisha keeping an eye on the forthcoming general election. But such help is too late and too small considering the severity of cyclone Phalin.

Just few days back the center also announced another major grant for construction of NH5 running in Odisha. It has to be seen whether such generous gestures by the center is really going to help them in the forthcoming elections.

The Centre on Sunday announced an assistance of Rs 915-crore for reconstruction of areas affected by cyclone Phailin and subsequent floods in Odisha, and rehabilitation of victims. It also declared setting up of two new National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) battalions in Uttarakhand and at Silchar in the Northeast.

On the occasion of the ninth raising day celebration of NDRF at Munduli, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde lauded the unprecedented relief and rescue operations undertaken during Phailin which hit the state's coast in October. A high power committee of the National Disaster Mitigation Authority (NDMA) has decided to give Rs 915-crore to the state for reconstruction work, he said.

Shinde said Japan, which had fought hard to overcome the damage caused by tsunami and the Fukushima plant disaster, has praised the evacuation work in Odisha, the largest ever in India.

The central funds will be used for development of agriculture, rural infrastructure and acquisition of modern equipment to combat disasters in future, he added.

Shinde stressed on better coordination between the Centre and the state and noted that different countries are facing not only natural disasters, but also industrial mishaps like Fukushima nuclear plant blast. The NDMA is taking steps to upgrade technical skills of NDRF to face challenges of chemical, biological and nuclear disasters, he added.

Shinde informed that NDRF, which came into existence in 2006, has 10 battalions in various states and many more battalions would be raised in other parts of the country to face the challenges of various types of disaster. He advised NDRF bosses to institute a national award for disaster mitigation to raise the morale of civil defence forces in the country.

After the function, Shinde told mediapersons that he would soon write to all chief ministers asking them to scrutinize expeditiously cases pending against youths of various minority communities languishing in jail for more than 5-10 years.

Addressing the function, chief minister Naveen Patnaik urged the Union home minister to enhance the technical capability of NDRF.