The Orissa government on Thursday announced to build concrete roads in all the 3,000 villages which were submerged in the recent spells of flood.
At least `150 crores will be spent for the purpose.
The decision to lay concrete roads came following a review meeting at the state secretariat by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Revenue minister S.N. Patro, chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik and senior government officials attended the meeting.
“At least 8,000 villages were affected by the floods in the Mahanadi river system in the coastal districts and major rivers flowing through the northern parts of the state. Of them 3,000 villages were completely submerged. The chief minister on Thursday sanctioned `5 lakhs to each of these villages for construction new pucca roads,” revenue minister Mr Patro told reporters after the meeting.
Mr Patnaik also directed the officials to pay flood damage compensation to all the affected people by October 15. Despite the festive mood in the capital city, the chief minister came to the secretariat and disposed of a lot of official responsibilities. Senior officials engaged in the relief and repair activities in the flood-hit areas were also present in the secretariat as their puja leaves were earlier cancelled by the chief minister. Meanwhile, a portion of the eight-storey annexure building of the state secretariat housing directorates of all the state departments caught fire in the morning.