Central team admitscrop loss is huge

BHUBANESWAR: An inter-ministerial Central team estimated crop loss up to 80 per cent due to the recent spate of floods in the State.“The kharif crop loss varies from place to place. It could be about 50 to 80 per cent in Sambalpur and Jajpur,” M C Diwakar, Director, Directorate of Rice Development, Ministry of Agriculture, said.As agricultural fields were submerged by flood water for over a week, standing crops were badly damaged. There is no chance of getting any return from cultivation, he said. Crops were washed away at many places. Large-scale sandcast has also badly hit khairf crops. A four-member inter-ministerial Central team, including Diwakar, visited several places in Sambalpur, Bargarh and Sonepur districts on Tuesday to assess the damage.A large number of kutcha houses either collapsed or were badly damaged due to rains and floods while many roads were washed away in the flood-affected districts.“We have seen large-scale damage to kutcha houses in Jajpur, Puri and other places,” Sunil Kumar Verma, chief engineer, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said. Another six-member Central team, led by O P Mahey, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, arrived here on Wednesday to make a damage assessment.After arrival of this team, the full inter-ministerial Central team has been divided into three groups.  Group-A comprising four members and led by Mahey, visited flood-affected areas of Kanas and Delanga areas of Puri district on Wednesday.Mahey said the inter-ministerial group would submit its report to the Centre within 10 days after concluding their visit to the flood-hit areas on September 30.Group-B comprising three members visited the affected areas of Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts. The team will visit more areas of Kendrapara district on Thursday, Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra said.According to preliminary report, the second spell of flood caused crop loss in over 2.23 lakh hectares of agricultural land besides damaging 38,939 houses.The State Government will submit a detailed damage assessment report to the Centre after water fully recedes from the affected areas, he added. The State Government had submitted a memorandum to the Centre demanding Rs. 2,121 crore as compensation for the loss due to the first spell of flood in the Mahanadi river system.