Bhubaneswar, March 13: Around 10,000 cyclone shelters in the coastal belt continue to cry for repair as the state disaster management department passes the buck to the school and mass education department.

“Repair and maintenance of the multi-purpose cyclone shelters, which are being used by schools, is not the responsibility of our department. We have written to the school and mass education department to take up repair and maintenance of such structures,” disaster management minister Surjya Narayan Patro said in the Assembly today.

Cyclone shelters, which are multi-purpose buildings, assumed special significance in the wake of the 1999 supercyclone which ravaged the state’s coastal areas. However, most of these buildings are now in a bad shape.

Following the supercyclone, some 10,042 buildings were constructed with the financial assistance of the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, members of Parliament, the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and some state governments, including those of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Several voluntary agencies, corporate sectors and public sector undertakings had also donated funds for post-cyclone reconstruction and restoration.

These structures were supposed to be used as schools during normal period and as temporary shelters during natural calamities. Apart from these structures, the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority had built 135 cyclone shelters, while the Red Cross Society of India had constructed another 65. These were constructed at locations identified by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Patro said the upkeep of the cyclone shelters built by the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority and the Red Cross Society of India, which number at only 200, was the responsibility of his department. He also said that none of these 200 structures were in unsafe condition.

He, however, feigned ignorance about the condition of 10,042 shelters that were being used as schools. “No instance of shelters lying in unsafe condition has come to our notice,” he said while stating that it was the lookout of the school and mass education department.

BJD MLA from Kendrapara Bed Prakash Agrawal and others apprehended that the school and mass education department would not have enough funds to carry out repair and regular maintenance of the shelters. They demanded that the disaster management department should locate funds for this purpose.

Sensing the mood of the House, Patro assured that he would shortly convene a meeting of the officials of the school and mass education and the rural development departments to sort out the issue.

The Telegraph had published a report in its January 3 edition highlighting the pitiable condition of the cyclone shelters located in the cyclone-prone Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts.

BJD MLAs from the coastal belt Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak (Mahakalpada) and Prashanta Muduli (Ersama - Balikuda) expressed concern over the “unsafe structures” during the question hour in the Assembly.