Cyclone national calamity: PM
300-crore Centre package for Orissa
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (PTI, UNI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said the devastation caused by the super cyclone in Orissa was being treated as a national calamity and announced a package of Rs 300 crore to the state as large parts of coastal areas had been ravaged and no estimate of loss of human life and property could be made with communication links with the state remaining snapped.

"At least 10 million persons have been affected in eight districts of the state whose entire coastal area has been severely hit", Mr Vajpayee told reporters after over a 90-minute special meeting of the Cabinet to take stock of the calamity.

"Such has been the destruction and disruption of communications that the state government has not yet been able to make any preliminary assessment of the loss to human life and property," he said.

Mr Vajpayee announced the release of Rs 100 crore from the National Fund for Calamity Relief because of the exceptional circumstances in response to the Orissa Government’s request for additional funds and treating it as a national calamity.

The Prime Minister said Rs 200 crore would be given as additional support following a plea from the state government. This would be in addition to Rs 250 crore released to the state government when Mr Vajpayee visited Orissa on Sunday for an aerial survey of the devastation caused by the first cyclone which hit the state earlier this month.

Replying to questions, Mr Vajpayee said eight districts of the state, comprising one-thirds of Orissa, had been severely hit by the cyclone affecting at least 10 million persons.

The Prime Minister said a four-member ministerial team comprising Mr L. K. Advani, Mr George Fernandes, Mr Naveen Patnaik and Mr Jual Oram failed this afternoon to reach the cyclone-hit areas by helicopter from the Kalaikunda air force base in West Bengal as winds with speed of over 120 km per hour were still blowing.

He said after hitting the land at the Paradip port with an unprecedented speed of 260 km per hour, the cyclone had weakened but was moving very slowly, causing a heavy rain.

Meanwhile, a report from Bhubaneswar said thousands were feared killed and about 15 million marooned as power and communication links remained in total disarray hampering relief and rehabilitation work even two days after the super cyclone struck destruction on the Orissa coast.

The threat of another cyclone devastating the region this evening blew over with the weakening of the system. Rain continued to pound the area incessantly for the past 30 hours making those affected inaccessible to the relief agencies.

Disruption of the communication network and air and ground traffic made it difficult to gauge the exact extent of the damage inflicted by the cyclone, but Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang told UNI that "the toll could be in thousands and damage to property beyond description with one-thirds of the state’s 35 million population affected.’’

Bhubaneswar airport remained out of bounds for the second day today with the communication network shattered. Rail and road traffic were severely affected in the coastal areas which remained without electricity.

Even the state Capital remained cut off from the rest of the country with a complete shutdown of the electricity system and extensively damaged television and radio towers and other communication channels.

Sonia deputes delegation

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (PTI) — Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday deputed a party delegation to Orissa for organising relief and rehabilitation work in the state. Senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bal Ram Jakhar and Vyalar Ravi will visit various cyclone-hit areas by helicopter and coordinate their work with the state and central governments, an AICC press note said.