Naveen: Disburse house-damage aid by October 25

BHUBANESWAR: The Government on Friday set October 25 as the deadline for completing  disbursement of house-damage assistance to families hit by the second spell of floods as the toll climbed to 42 with recovery of two more bodies. Chief Minister Neveen Patnaik directed the district collectors of the affected districts to complete the enumeration of damaged houses by October 15 and start disbursement of housing assistance. The disbursement should be completed by October 25, he directed the collectors of the flood-hit districts during a video- conference with them. Earlier, the State Government had set October 5 as deadline for completion of enumeration and October 15 for disbursement of housing and other assistance to the affected families. The flood assistance would be given to the affected people though account payee cheques, Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra told this paper. The Chief Minister further directed the collectors to provide assistance for clearing sand from sandcast agricultural fields and assistance for buying utensils to those who lost everything in the flood.  He also asked the secretaries of Water Resources, Works, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Health and Family Welfare, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development and Rural Development departments to visit the affected districts during Puja vacations in order to expedite restoration activities.  Meanwhile, the Government stopped airdropping of food packets from Friday and expedited relief operation through vehicles and boats, the SRC said. Though water has receded in most of the affected villages, above 100 villages in Aul and Rajkanika block of Kendrapara district and 18 villages in Dasarathpur block of Jajpur district continue to remain marooned. Jajpur Collector Anil Samal said relief to marooned villages was being provided. Free kitchens are closed in all the districts barring Jajpur and Kendrapara. In Kendrapara district, 98 free kitchens fed 37,835 people, the SRC said. Stating that 1.57 lakh houses were damaged in the current spell of floods, the SRC said 981 livestock casualties have been reported from the affected districts so far. The two people missing were found dead taking the toll to 42. At least 41 people died in the first spell of flood in the Mahanadi river system.