Bhubaneswar : In an interview with Special Relief Commissioner cum Additional Chief Secy. Mr. Pradeep Kumar Jena (IAS )shared his experience with our Special Correspondent.
Odisha a state in India which is backward economically has faced a lot. From 1999 super cyclone to 2020 Amphan. In the words of Mr pradeep jena who has served the state during the crisis from 1999 to 2020 playing major roles being collector of cuttack in 1999 , Principal secretary of Dept of eEnergy in the year 2013 that was when phailin occured and then as Principal secretary of Water Resources Department at the time Hudhud and titli even he was assigned as special relief commissioner when Bulbul hit odisha – odisha being backward and being cyclone prone it has emerged from all its difficulties and yet evolving . Now the state is legit strong and has increased its capacity, man power, capital etc and standing strong everytime.
From being unprepared at 1999 supercyclone to being able to evacuate people and saving the state he has seen the state growing.
Basically it was a diatomy challenge to the people of Odisha, which was never faced earlier. The experience would be an examplary instance on the part of Administration to guide the future generation.
The super cyclonic Storm Amphan came as a severe challenge to the Indian Meteorological Department who kept on providing appropriate information to the state in particular and nation in general. There efficiency in work was appreciated by the SRC Mr. Jena
The IMD has been helpful to Mr Jena and his team who dealt effectively with the summer cyclone Amphan. The affected areas were put under the surveillance of the collector and nearly 2 lakhs people were evacuated the night before cyclone.
When Administration was asking people to stay inside the houses. At the same time the people were asked to evacute.
The SRC with his fellow workers were on alert for 48 hours without a break and detailed monitoring was done . The Covid 19 guidelines made it very difficult for them but the Local Administration and Collector gave their best to save lives.
The basic aim of the state was fulfilled as zero casualties were reported by SRC Mr. Pradeep Kumar Jena and Chief Secretary Mr. Asit Tripathy. Hon’ble CM Mr Naveen Patnaik too under took an Ariel survey of the cyclone affected areas, so as to take necessary steps for the betterment of people.
👉Will debriefing of this entire arrangements for Amphan cyclone help others in future?
“Regarding debriefing, we will not only do a debriefing this time but will also share our experience and we will also conduct a documentation on what had worked and what didn’t, how well things can go well and what more can be done. As we had no example before us so far as tackling a natural disaster in a pandemic situation but I’m sure our learnings can be useful for rectifying the lacunae in future” : Says Mr. Jena.
👉If in future multi disasters will come together at same time can the administration handel it effectively?
“This time we have proved it by managing a natural disaster in a pandemic situation effectively through advance planning, mobilisation and involvement of empowered PRIs and organization like SHGs.
We have properly maintained the COVID -19 rules in the shelters. The GP Sarpanch and WSHG acted very useful tools in enforcing and ensuring social distancing, use of face masks and maintaining proper hygiene in most shelters. What needed most is advance planning and flexibility of the entire process which has been practised during Amphan”: Says Mr. Jena.
