Govt employees’ leaves cancelled in Cuttack
looking at a severe flood situation in the Mahanadi system, which is likely to worsen in next 24 hours, the Cuttack district administration on Tuesday cancelled the leaves of all the employees and has directed the staff to remain present at the headquarters until further orders.
The block and tehsil officers were asked to remain alert with adequate boats and relief materials to evacuate marooned people and provide relief immediately. The district administration dispatched ODRAF teams to Athagarh block while the NDRF teams have already reached Banki, which is the worst sufferer in the district.
Reports reaching here said at least 1.60 lakh people in Banki alone are marooned, and it remained cut off from the rest when the Banki-Cuttack road came under over nine feet of floodwaters near Debidwar. Several villages in the block are now out of reach of rescue workers and reports from these areas are not available.
A Press release by the district headquarters here said all BDOs and tehsildars have been asked to remain alert and closely monitor the situation. All the vulnerable embankments in the district are now under close watch of engineers, who have been asked to repair the embankments immediately seeing any seepage.
Since more floodwaters would reach Mundali and there is prediction of more rains due to low pressure, the situation in the district might worsen further. The Mundali barrage has been receiving over nine lakh cusecs of water for last 24 hours and it touched 10 lakh cusecs on Tuesday afternoon.
Sources said the State administration was surprised when nearly 2.60 lakh cusecs of floodwaters reached the Mahanadi at Khairimal and by Tuesday afternoon, nearly 12.60 lakh cusecs would pass through Mundali. “The embankments in the district are capable of withstanding pressure of 12 lakh cusecs,” sources said, adding that this year’s flood situation would be worse than that of 2011.