Naveen Patnaik seeks Rs1,000 crore advance from centre for Orissa floods

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik has sought an advance of Rs1,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to help the state carry out repairs following last month's floods, in which over 80 persons were killed in 20 districts.

Patnaik, who met union home minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi, said the state government had already spent the entire sum of Rs411 crore from the state disaster response fund. Orissa has sought Rs3,265 crore as grant from the NDRF for the flood damages.

The home minister told Patnaik that an inter-ministerial team, headed by the joint secretary, home, which had toured the flood-affected parts of Orissa, would submit its report on Monday, following which a decision on financial aid to the state would be taken.

Patnaik pointed out that six million people had been affected by the floods and many small and marginal farmers had suffered as their standing crops had been destroyed. He said the state government would have to spend about Rs1,300 crore over the next 45 days.

The Orissa chief minister has also met union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, seeking additional subsidies for agricultural inputs.

The chief minister also met C P Joshi, the union transport minister, and urged him to approve the sanction of Rs2,674 crore for building 45 new roads, covering 1,358 km, in Naxal-affected districts of the state.