Central team visits cyclone Fani-ravaged areas in Puri

An 11-member central team arrived in Bhubaneswar on May 12 last to assess the damages caused by the severe cyclonic storm Fani.

The team members were divided into two groups and they visited the cyclone-ravaged areas in Khurda, Puri and Konark yesterday and today.

The team members are scheduled to leave for New Delhi tomorrow.

A five-member central team led by Mr Vivek Bhardwaj a senior officer of Prime Minister’s office visited the Fani landfall areas of Krushnaprasad. Brahmagiri blocks in Puri yesterday.

Puri district collector Balwant Singh along with with other concerned officers accompanied the team members

The team studied the ongoing relief distribution, restoration of power, and water supply.

Meanwhile, the disposal of tonnes of garbage and debris mounds lying scattered in various areas in the city posed a challenge for the civic body and district administration as there is no space in the existing dumping site.

The temporary site created in the closed Nilachal Ashok hotel campus was full while much garbage is yet to be taken care of.

A solid waste treatment plant of the state was commissioned in collaboration with Norway government at Puri in 1998 with a capacity to process a hundred tonnes per day.

The plant, under the management of Puri municipality, was processing solid waste into manure which was sold to farmers.

For the last five years, its only unit was working while the stockpiles of garbage are turned into a hillock.

The civic body officials are now looking for a new space to dump garbage.