Fani toll jumps to 34 in Odisha, Patnaik announces relief package

The death toll due to Cyclone Fani mounted to 34 in Odisha on Sunday, two days after it caused widespread damage in the coastal region and left hundreds grappling with water shortage and power cuts, an official said.

Although the official figure is 34, many more are feared dead in the calamity as information from several areas, including the severely-damaged Khurda district, is still awaited.

The number of people affected by the cyclone has also jumped to around 1.08 crore in 14,835 villages spread across at least 11 districts, the official said, adding that over 13.41 lakh people had been evacuated in a span of 24 hours ahead of the disaster.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already unveiled a relief package for those affected by the calamity.

In Puri and in those parts of Khurda that had been "extremely severely affected", the families will get 50 kg of rice, Rs 2,000 in cash and polythene sheets if they are covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Patnaik said.

For the rest of Khurda district, categorised as "severely affected", the NFSA families will get a month's quota of rice, Rs 1,000 and polythene sheets, Patnaik said.

Those living in the "moderately-affected" districts of Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur will be eligible for a month's quota of rice and Rs 500 in cash.

The chief minister also announced an assistance of Rs 95,100 for fully-damaged houses, Rs 52,000 for partially-damaged houses and Rs 3,200 for houses that had suffered minor damage.

Patnaik, who visited the cyclone-ravaged Puri and distributed relief to the affected people, claimed that water supply had been restored in 70 per cent areas of the seaside pilgrim town and 40 per cent of the places in Bhubaneswar.

"I hope water supply will be fully restored in Bhubaneswar shortly and at least in 90 per cent areas of Puri town by Monday," he said. "The government has made arrangements to provide cooked food for free over the next 15 days. We will also take up tree plantation on a mission mode."