Central team to visit Odisha to assess drought situation

BHUBANESWAR: An inter-departmental central team is likely to visit Odisha in the first half of December to assess drought situation in the state, an official said.

"The union agriculture ministry has constituted an inter-ministerial team of nine members following our submission of memorandum (interim) on drought in 2015. We have received the order that the team will tour Odisha next week or the week following that. We'll prepare a final draft on drought and present it to them," Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra told reporters.

The central team's proposed visit follows Odisha government's interim memorandum seeking an assistance of Rs 1,687 crore to mitigate the drought situation. The state government had submitted the interim drought report with the ministry of agriculture and home affairs.

Earlier, a central five-member team led by Union Additional Commissioner of Agriculture R P Malik had visited the state on October 7 to assess the situation. The team was formed by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh based on a request from Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.