Bhubaneswar: The State Government on Wednesday deputed 23 senior IAS and IPS officers to different districts likely to be affected by the very severe cyclonic storm Fani.
The 21 officials include 12 IAS officers and 11 IPS officers.
While senior IAS officer Suresh Mahapatra was given the assignment to look after relief and restoration measures in Puri district, Pradipta Mohapatra (Jagatsinghpur), Pradeep Jena (Kendrapara), Anil Samal (Jajpur) and Balwant Singh (Balasore). All of them have been directed to report by 5 pm today.
Besides, nine other IAS officers have also been entrusted with the special duty to deal with the disaster management. While Saswat Mishra will coordinate relief and rescue operation in Jagatsinghpur district, Krishan Kumar will do the same in Khurda, Hemant Kumar Padhi (Kendrapada), Sanjeev Chopra (Cuttack), Sangramjit Nayak (CMC, Cuttack), Premchand Choudhury and Mohammed Abdul Akhtar (Balasore) and Surendra Pal Thakur (Bhadrak). Manisha Banerjee has been posted at the office of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC).
Meanwhile, Director General Police (DGP) deputed 11 IPS officers to different district to oversee the police arrangements and coordinate with the district administration and other connected line agencies and field functionaries for rescue and relief operations.
While SK Upadhyay was deputed to Jajpur, Pranabindu Acharya was sent to Jagatsinghpur, Vinaytosh Mishra (Bhadrak), RP Koche (Khurda), SK Priyadarshi (Puri), Arun Bothra (Kendrapara), Amitabh Thakur (Ganjam), Ghanshyam Upadhyay (Nayagarh), Amitendra Nath Sinha (Balasore), Nikhil Kumar Kanodia (Cuttack) and Shefeen Ahamed K (Mayurbhanj).
The top cops have been directed to proceed immediately to the likely affected districts.
As per the IMD Bulletin at 8.30 AM today based on 5.30 AM forecast, the cyclone Fani moved northwestwards with a speed of about 10 kmph in last six hours and lay centred about 680 km south-southwest of Puri and 430 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam.
It is very likely to move northwestwards during next 12 hours and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast near Satapada, Puri district on May 3 afternoon with maximum sustained wind speed of 175-185 kmph gusting to 205 kmph. After landfall it is likely to move to Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore districts of Odisha and then enter to West Bengal.
Earlier in the day, the State Government deputed ten IAS officers to as many districts to oversee relief and restoration work as Fani moves and packs power.
