BHUBANESWAR: A month has passed since cyclone Fani wrought devastation in 14 coastal Odisha districts. The state administration, however, is yet to restore minimum utility services in the affected pockets.
More than five lakh people of 1.64 lakh households in Odisha’s coastal districts still continue to struggle with hot and humid weather conditions due to lack of power restoration.
Puri district, which bore the brunt of the May 3 cyclone Fani, has witnessed tardy progress restoration of power infrastructure. Only 1,51,889 out of 2,91,171 affected electricity consumers (52 per cent) have reportedly got back power so far.
According to official statistics, of the total 25,01,131 affected electricity consumers, power has been restored to 23,36,584 consumers.
The affected districts were Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri, Nayagarh, Khurda, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur.
There has been significant improvement in the drinking water, banking, telecom and other services in the cyclone-hit areas.
Odisha’s school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash, who hails from Puri district, said the authorities had been asked to repair the schools as the summer vacation will be over on June 19.
The minister also said all-out efforts were being made to restore power in the rural areas of Puri district.
“Though we have set a target to complete power restoration work within June, no specific date can be fixed,” said a senior official.
