Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday turned 73. However, as a mark of solidarity with the cyclone-hit people of the state, he did not celebrate his birthday but kept an eye on the relief and restoration operations going on in the affected districts.
The chief minister had also requested people not to come to his residence. In keeping with his appeal, his supporters and loyalists did not turn up at Naveen Niwas to greet him on his birthday.
Earlier, Naveen had skipped his birthday celebration in 2013 and 2014 when cyclones Phailin and Hudhud had left a trail of devastation in Odisha.
However, people continued to wish him on his birthday on social media. Prime minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Best wishes to Odisha CM Shri Naveen Patnaik Ji on his birthday. Naveen Ji is one of India’s senior-most leaders who has been serving the people of Odisha for many years. May he lead a long and healthy life.”
Union petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Niranjan Patnaik and others also greeted Naveen on his birthday.
Naveen, however, continued to monitor relief and restoration work that is going on a war footing in Gajapati, Ganjam, Raygada and other parts of the state.
Special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said: “The number of death due to the cyclone Titli has reached 26 and police have confirmed it. The death occurred due to landslide, wall collapse and tree falling on people.”
Sethi said: “The highest number of death was reported from Gajapati district. The toll in this district was 18. Out of it, 15 deaths were due to landslide at Baraghar.”
He said steps were being taken to immediately give the compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of the kin of the victims.
“At the block level, we have deployed Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (Odraf) teams, along with the magistrate, to take care of the rescue and relief operations,” Sethi said. He added that 16 districts had borne the brunt of Titli.
Officials engaged in relief operations said 57 lakh people in 16 districts had been affected because of the cyclone.
