Standing crop of over 80,000 hectares in Odisha affected by Cyclone Dana

Kendrapara district where cyclone Dana made landfall on late Thursday night bore the brunt of the cyclone with crop in 28,426 hectares affected

A day after cyclone Dana made landfall without causing much damage and inflicting any human casualty in Odisha, the state government said standing paddy crops over 80,000 hectare of agricultural land were affected.

Accompanied by torrential rain and high-speed winds, cyclone Dana uprooted trees, electric poles and caused extensive damage to infrastructure and crops in some districts of Odisha. (ANI)

According to a preliminary report by agriculture department, crop loss was incurred over 80,478 hectares of land though standing crop in over 2.8 lakh hectares of farmland were submerged. Kendrapara district where cyclone Dana made landfall on late Thursday night bore the brunt of the cyclone with crop in 28,426 hectares affected followed by Bhadrak district where crop over 24827 hectares were affected.

Accompanied by torrential rain and high-speed winds, cyclone Dana uprooted trees, electric poles and caused extensive damage to infrastructure and crops in some districts of Odisha.

Deputy CM and agriculture minister KV Singh Deo said affected farmers will get ₹4,200 for damage to half hectare of agricultural land. The minimum amount of ₹1,000 will be given for minimal loss. The farmers will get ₹17,000 for crop loss in irrigated land, whereas the marginal farmers will be paid a minimum of ₹2,000 for crop loss in irrigated land. The farmers will get ₹22,500 per hectare and a minimum of ₹2,500 for agro forest/plantation crop loss.

Singh Deo said that a comprehensive assessment of the damage will be conducted by the agriculture and revenue departments in the state.

“We have instructed district level officials to send the assessment reports as per the new guidelines set by the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC). Accordingly, compensation will be disbursed to the affected farmers’ account through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT),” he said. “We have also urged the people to refrain from providing false and fabricated information to get undue advantage. If anyone is found to have given misleading information, action will be taken,” he said.

State revenue minister Suresh Pujari said damage assessment work would start from October 26. As per the decision, the damage assessment work will be completed within seven days.