BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to spend Rs 816.58 crore for repair and restoration of infrastructure damaged in the two phases of flood in September.Special squads at State and district levels have been constituted for monitoring the progress of these projects.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday reviewed the progress in repair and restoration works at a highlevel meeting here.Official sources said all the affected families have been provided house-building assistance.In this connection, an assistance of Rs 35.39 crore has been given to 1.82 lakh families.Similarly, Rs 1.39 crore assistance has been provided for restoration of sandcast land.Besides, Rs 22.83 crore assistance has been provided to the affected farmers as agriculture input subsidy.The Chief Minister had directed that an input subsidy of Rs 60.53 crore should be provided to the affected farmers by December 15.The Chief Minister also reviewed the implementation of the government decision to provide one month additional pension to elderly people, widow and physical- challenged persons of the flood-affected areas.This will benefit 5,68,542 persons and the entire money of ` 11.37 crore will be given from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF).Naveen asked the officials to complete the disbursement by December 15.The State Government had assessed the loss at about Rs 2,121 crore due to the floods which killed at least 41 persons and damaged over a lakh houses.Kendrapara and Puri districts were the worst hit in the floods which affected 34.43 lakh people in 19 districts.While maximum damage of Rs 728.58 crore had been caused to the Water Resources Department due to breaches on river embankments in 49 places, a large number of roads were washed away in the flood waters.Rural Development Department assessed its loss at Rs 372 crore while that of Panchayati Raj Department was Rs 442.27 crore.A sum of Rs 162.77 crore was required for relief measures like agriculture input subsidy, house building assistance and others for 19 districts while Rs 45 lakh was required towards ex gratia to the families of flood victims, the meeting was told.Information received from the district collectors by the State Government stated that 4,897 villages of 102 blocks and 21 urban local bodies in 19 districts were affected in the floods.While 10 persons went missing, the livestock casualty, including poultry, stood at 1,667.
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