RailEnquiry

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has asked district collectors of Ganjam, Puri, Cuttack, Gajapati and Khurda to submit a detailed report of loss due to heavy rain in the past five days. Ganjam was the worst-affected district in the unseasonal rain, followed by Puri and Gajapati.One person was killed while several houses were damaged in the rain. Local meteorological centre forecast rain for two more days due to a trough line passing over the state.Chief minister Naveen Patnaik gave the direction during a review meet on Monday. He also ordered senior officials to undertake field visits to the rain-ravaged districts to assess the actual loss.According to preliminary reports, standing crops in about 50,000 hectares of land were damaged in the rain. Crops in over 25,000 hectare were affected in Ganjam, which received the highest 250.8 mm rain in the last five days.Puri received 170 mm rain in five days and reported a loss of standing crops in over 15,000 hectare of farmland. Cuttack, Gajapati, Koraput and Rayagada districts also reported substantial crop loss.A senior government officer said the actual loss of paddy will be assessed only after a final report is submitted to the government by January 15. "The actual damage can be assessed only after the water recedes and officials prepare damage reports," said Ganjam collector Krishan Kumar. He said the district received less rainfall on Sunday compared to the previous two days.

Road communication continued to remain affected in several pockets of the district, while train services were affected for the third consecutive day due to rain in Andhra Pradesh. Communication in Bahnajanagar-Belaguntha, Berhampur-Phulbani, Buguda-Polasara, Podamari-Taptapani was disrupted as canal water flowed on the road.

Train services hit

Train services on Monday continued to remain affected on Howrah-Chennai line due to water flowing on rail line following heavy rain. The railway had to cancel, reschedule and short terminate selected trains due to the calamity.

The trains cancelled include Bilaspur-Tirupati express, scheduled to leave Bilaspur on Tuesday, Hyderabad-Howrah East Coast express and Chennai-Howrah Mail supposed to pass Bhubaneswar on Tuesday were cancelled. Similarly, Howrah-Chennai Mail scheduled to leave Howrah on Tuesday and Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam special train scheduled to leave Secunderabad on Tuesday have been cancelled.