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Cyclone Fani death toll rises to 64, CM Patnaik wants special category status for disaster-prone state

The cyclone has affected more than 1.65 crore people in 18,168 villages and 52 urban areas spread over 14 districts and rendered over five lakh families homeless.

cyclone fani
Image Courtesy: AP
 
Bhubaneshwar: The death toll of cyclone ‘Fani’ in Odisha rose to 64, with 21 fresh casualties confirmed by the state government on Sunday.
 
The ‘extremely severe’ cyclonic storm, which made landfall in Puri with wind speed of up to 240 kmph on May 3, left at least 241 people injured, an official said.
 
The toll, which was 43 till Saturday, rose to 64, as 18 more casualties were reported from the worst-hit Puri district and four more from Khurda district.
 
However, the Odisha government, which had earlier put the toll in Jajpur at four, brought the number of casualties due to the cyclone in the district down to three on Sunday.
 
The highest number of 39 deaths were reported from Puri district, followed by nine in Khurda district, six in Cuttack district, four in Mayurbhanj, and three each from Kendrapara and Jajpur district, an official at the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said.
 
Of the 64 deaths, 25 were due to wall collapse, 20 more were crushed under uprooted trees and six died of roof collapse. The cause of 13 casualties is yet to be ascertained.
 
Meanwhile, an SEOC report said 241 people sustained injuries in the cyclone, of whom 160 belong to Puri district alone, followed by Jajpur, where 74 people were injured.
 
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik also demanded special category status from the Centre for his disaster-prone State.
 
He said a special category status was the need of the hour due to the massive loss to infrastructure which may stall growth and rebuilding of the State.
 
“In fact, this is one of our main demands before the Union government. Odisha faces natural calamities almost every year. The assistance we get from the Centre is mostly for temporary restoration of infrastructure. We have to spend a lot from state’s own funds to work for the long-term,” Patnaik said in an interview.
 
“This puts too much stress on our finances. Precisely for this reason, Odisha should be considered for special category status. In the last five years, we had Phailin, Hudhud, Titli and now Fani. In addition to this, we had massive floods,” he added.
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the cyclone-affected areas on May 6, had announced Rs two lakh ex-gratia each for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
 
The cyclone has affected more than 1.65 crore people in 18,168 villages and 52 urban areas spread over 14 districts, and rendered over five lakh families homeless.
 
An inter-ministerial Central team is in Odisha to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Fani.
 
Efforts are on to restore electricity, water supply, and telecom facilities even as a large number of areas remained in the dark for the eleventh day since May 3.
 
The cyclone has also caused extensive damage to trees and crops in the state. About 14 lakh trees, including thousands of coconut and mango trees, were uprooted by the ”extremely severe cyclonic storm”.
 
According to the state government’s preliminary assessment, over 30 per cent crop has been damaged and more than 1,00,000 hectares of agricultural land badly affected in 14 districts of the state.
 

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