BHUBANESWAR: Close to 200 villages in three districts still remain marooned even as water has started receding. While 108 villages are still cut off in Puri district, 74 villages remain marooned in Kendrapara district. Flood water is yet to recede from 11 villages in Jajpur district.Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surjya Narayan Patro said life in other affected areas is slowly limping back to normalcy. Relief has been extended by seven days in the cut-off areas, he said.He said the district collectors had almost completed the damage assessment and would be sending their reports to the State Government in a day or two. The Minister said that the inter-ministerial team is likely to reach on Tuesday or Wednesday to make an on-the-spot assessment of the damage caused by the flood.Union Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat who visited the flood-affected areas on Friday said a team from the Agriculture Ministry will also visit the State to assess crop loss.Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and Orissa in-charge, Jagdish Tytler has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Centre to depute a team from Red Cross to all the 19 affected districts as people now badly need medical help. Describing the Orissa flood as a calamity of the highest order, Tytler said Congress was also readying to take up relief work in the affected areas.In social networking site Facebook, the Congress leader has questioned the decision of the Government to suddenly open 59 gates of the Hirakud dam. Since Chhattisgarh had informed the Orissa Government about heavy rains, 40-42 gates should have been opened earlier, he said. Tytler was countered in Facebook by former minister Damodar Rout. Rout criticised the Congress for trying to derive political mileage out of the flood.
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