No place to store relief material in Visakha district VISAKHAPATNAM : With help flooding the district, particularly in the form of rice bags, the officials are hunting for suitable storage spaces to keep them intact until they are distributed to the people hit by Cyclone Hudhud.
The Civil Supplies Department has godowns to store nearly 26,000 tonnes and rice stocks for distribution in October were kept there. Officials said the stock is sufficient to meet the requirement of November as well.
'We hoped to distribute about 14,000 tonnes of rice during October. We had moved 4,000 tonnes to fair price shops by the time the cyclone struck on October 11. After that, distribution got disrupted,' said an official.
When the cyclone hit, nearly 24,000 tonnes of rice were stocked in the godowns. Some of these godowns were damaged in the cyclone, thus destroying the rice stocks inside. Officials are yet to assess the loss.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had announced a relief package of 25 kg rice and other essential items to each cyclone-affected family and had asked the officials to get rice from other districts.
Higher officials, unaware of the stock availability and number of affected families, are learnt to have transported 10,000 tonnes, apart from ordering another 18,000 tonnes for distribution among cyclone victims.
'We could have informed the higher officials not to bother about importing additional rice from other districts. But due to damage in cyclone, we could not make an estimate of stock availability,' said an official.
Meanwhile, several trucks carrying rice donated by philanthropists and various organisations have started arriving. As there is no place to store the rice, lorries either wait along the national highway or just dump the stock in one of the affected areas.
'We were asked to monitor distribution of rice. But with limited manpower and godown space, this seems to be a nearly impossible task,' the official added.
Noticing that rice meant for distribution through fair price shops to cyclone-hit areas was being diverted, the Civil Supplies Department has formed special teams to curb the illegal activity.
News Posted: 20 October, 2014
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