With the Phailin hitting Ganjam badly, the loss of the district is pegged at Rs 3,432 crore, which is the highest in the State as the estimated total loss is estimated at Rs 4,242 crore.
More than 37 lakh people have been affected in the district with 9 lakh families needing immediate rehabilitation. More than 2.38 lakh houses and crops in 2.68 lakh hectares of land have been damaged.
The district administration has taken a multipronged approach to face the situation. As the first step, the administration has decided to set up a toll-free number (1800 345 1077) as a complaint and grievance redressal monitoring mechanism. Anybody can ring up this number 24X7 for any sorts of complaints and its redressal.
While the resources available with the Government are not much to handle such a herculean situation, support of NGOs, corporate houses and various other organisations has been sought. Additional Chief Secretary, Finance UN Behera, who is leading the NGO coordination in the State, visited Ganjam to take stock of the situation.
A large number of NGOs participated at a meeting. NGOs’ role in providing healthcare, trauma support, solar lanterns, water and sanitation was stressed and most of them agreed to take up the responsibilities. Organisations like the NDMA, OXFAM, PREM, CARE and HElPAGE extended their support and categorical responsibilities were worked out so that overlap would not take place, said official sources.
Similarly, support of the corporate sector is being taken in a big way in the district for safe drinking water supply, which is the utmost need of the hour.
Major industrial houses like Tata Steel, JSPl, ESSEl Mining, Adani Group, Arya Steel and IRE participated in the process of dialogue for extending support.
At least 1 lakh families would be provided food support and drinking water supply would be ensured through Sintex-type fibre tanks mounted over tractors or such types of vehicles, which would move in villages.
The power restoration job would take some more time, the sources said. So, supply of solar lanterns has been planned through support of the corporate sector, said an officer.