Orissa allocates Rs 1,000 crore to rebuild flood-torn bridges

In order to revive the severely affected rural bridges, washed away in back-to-back floods, the state government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore from its own fund.

“The state government will construct 300 rural bridges at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore under the Orissa Rural Bridges Scheme to improve the communication network in the rural areas of the state. This initiative will be implemented out of the state’s own resources,” a release from the chief minister’s office said.

The decision was taken today at a high level meeting chaired by Naveen Patnaik.

In a separate decision, the state government waived tuition and exam fees for +2 students studying in government and government-aided collages in flood-hit areas for the current academic year.

After the massive floods, the state government has taken steps to repair 567 rural bridges on war footing out of 830 bridges damaged. Also, out of 1,735 damaged rural roads, 789 roads have been repaired.

“The repairing work of the rest of the roads and bridges are going on full swing,” the release said.

The state government has earmarked Rs 1,210 crore to be spend in flood-hit areas under various departments such as health, energy, works and agricultural subsidy within 45 days.

Incessant rains and massive floods in two spells have washed away several rural houses, roads and bridges in the state and have claimed nearly 80 lives. The state government has asked the Centre to provide Rs 3,265 crore to compensate the flood damages.