Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has sought a fund to the tune of Rs 9,500 crore from the Centre for construction of about 800 cyclone/flood shelters and disaster resilient power infrastructure in the State. Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari had raised this demand before Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his recent meeting in New Delhi.

Briefing reporters here on Thursday, Pujari said there are about 1,000 cyclone shelters in different cyclone-prone areas of the State and these shelters were repaired recently to make them functional. “To make the State ready to tackle any unforeseen major natural disaster, we have requested the Centre to sanction funds of Rs 2,000 crore for construction of 800 cyclone shelters,” he said. The cyclone shelters would be set up inside school premises so that they can be used by students throughout the year, except when needed to shelter people during natural disasters, the minister said. During his meeting with the Union Home Minister, Pujari also raised the demand for execution of underground cabling of power lines in the cyclone and flood-prone areas of the State.

As power infrastructure usually suffers maximum damage during natural disasters like cyclones and floods, there is a need to create disaster-resilient power infrastructure, he pointed out. So, if the power distribution lines in the coastal areas are made underground, the damage to power infrastructure can be prevented and affected people can get uninterrupted power supply, he added. As per preliminary estimation, about Rs 7,500 crore is required to implement the project, the minister said. Pujari said he has handed over seven booklets on success stories on management of natural disasters in Odisha to the Home Minister. He also drew the attention of Shah to soil erosion in some coastal areas in the State. “I sought his support to address the problem,” he said.