The Odisha Government has signed an  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) for the protection of coastal areas from various natural calamities like flood, cyclone, soil erosion and high tide, etc. The Odisha coastal areas face natural calamities every year due to the effects of climate change. Seven districts namely Ganjam, Puri, Khordha, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Baleswar and Jagatsinghpur will get benefitted out of the initiative.
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Benefits:
This will help these districts to get technological knowledge and design from the NIOT, Chennai, for coastal area protection. The districts have already faced cyclones like Phailin, Hudhud, Titli, Amphan, Bulbul, Yash, Gulab, Jawad, etc., in the past years. In the first phase, work will be carried out in 199 km coastal areas of Kendrapada, Baleswar, Bhadrak Jagatsinghpur and Puri and in the next phase, Ganjam and Khordha will be included. The expenditure will be made by the State Government from its own resources.
Odisha’s Concerns:
Odisha has a vast coastline of about 480 km and the coastal areas are exposed to natural disasters. Cyclones cause high tidal surges with very high wind speed, resulting in loss of lives and properties. Such erosion of the coastline has been observed at many places in the recent past.