Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has deputed senior IAS officer Madhusudan Das to Nuapada district as part of its efforts to mitigate the impact of cyclonic storm ‘Arnab’, which is very likely to cross Andhra Pradesh coast on October 28.

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) of Odisha, Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, today issued an order in this regard.

Das, the Additional Secretary to the General Administration and Public Grievance Department, will assist, supervise, monitor and coordinate the overall relief and restoration operations in Nuapada district, said the order.

The senior bureaucrat will work closely with the Nuapada district administration to ensure the swift and effective implementation of relief management measures, it added.

“The officer is directed to proceed to his place of deployment immediately and report compliance,” read the order.

It is worth mentioning here that the state government yesterday deputed five IAS officers to assist the authorities of five districts of South Odisha for preparedness and smooth management of post-cyclonic relief, rehabilitation and restoration work.  

As per the order, OSCSC Managing Director K Sudarshan Chakravarthy has been sent to Rayagada district while ST&SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department Additional Secretary Poma Tudu will assist the Koraput district administration in relief and restoration work.

Health and Family Welfare Department Additional Secretary Bijay Kumar Dash has been assigned the task in Gajapati district while Director Sports, Yeddula Vijay, has been deputed to Malkangiri district.

Besides, Additional Secretary to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Maheswar Swain, will oversee relief and restoration work in Nabarangpur district.

As per the IMD prediction, the cyclonic storm may trigger extremely heavy rainfall in at least five districts in Odisha—Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Gajapati and Ganjam—for two days starting October 28.

The MeT Department has issued a Red warning for these South Odisha districts.

Several other districts of the state including Baragada, Nuapada, Balangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamala, Nawarangpur, Puri, Khordha and Nayagad are very likely to witness heavy rainfall till October 30.