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Satellite communication is the only link with Orissa

Special Correspondent in Bhubaneswar

Latest reports say the telecommunication link with Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar is totally cut-off from the rest of the country in the wake of the cyclone.

Director (Operation), Department of Telecom, N R Mukhariwala, however, disclosed that since yesterday the DoT has switched on the Stand Alone Terminal of satellite communication at Bhubaneshwar and this is the only link between Orissa and the rest of the country, he added.

According to met sources, after killing several hundred people in Orissa, the super cyclone is heading towards the West Bengal coast.

The army and the air force have started relief and rescue operations in Orissa.

Over 10 million people have been affected as the super cyclone with a velocity of more than 260 kilometres per hour battered 10 coastal districts of Orissa for more than eight hours yesterday.

Almost all rail services in eastern India have been cancelled. The government is rushing in doctors, emergency medical supplies and food for the worst affected.

The army has pitched in with relief and rescue efforts. More than a quarter of a million people, authorities said, have been evacuated from the low-lying areas. Air force choppers will start dropping food packets among the marooned from today.

Meanwhile, high speed winds, pouring rain and snapped power and communication links today prevented a central ministerial team, led by Home Minister L K Advani, from making an on-the-spot assessment of the damage wreaked by the super cyclone in Orissa.

The team, which also comprised Defence Minister George Fernandes and Mines and Minerals Minister Naveen Patnaik, returned to Delhi after the air traffic control at Bhubaneswar expressed its inability to guide the landing of the aircraft in view of the snapped communication network.

Unable to land in the state capital, the ministers, accompanied by a media team, were rerouted to Kalaikunda Air Base in West Bengal bordering Orissa from where they took off in two Cheetah helicopters to make an aerial survey.

But when the helicopters had barely covered about 30 kilometres, almost reaching Balasore, one of the worst-hit districts, the choppers were forced to retreat because of the winds, which were touching 120 kilometres per hour, and heavy rains. Tribal Affairs Minister Juel Oram was also part of the four-member ministerial team.

''We might have to take another visit to the area in the next 48 hours,'' Fernandes said later.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today reviewed the latest situation in the cyclone-affected areas of Orissa and West Bengal at a high-level meeting.

Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar, who is heading the central monitoring team, briefed the prime minister about the extent of damage caused by the super cyclone and relief and rescue operations underway in the affected areas.

The prime minister has called an emergency Cabinet meeting later in the day to assess the situation and initiate a damage control exercise.

Giving details about the cyclone, Director (Operation), Department of Telecom, N R Mukhariwala said, telephone operations at Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar were switched off.

The telephone exchange building at Cuttack is submerged. Rain water has entered the Bhubaneshwar telephone exchange building. In order to avoid short circuit, the exchanges were switched off.

He said it was still raining heavily in these areas. Round-the-clock work was on to drain out the water from the buildings. As soon as water was removed normalisation will be restored. By this evening these two exchanges would be operational, he said.

Mukhariwala, however, disclosed that since yesterday the DoT has switched on the Stand Alone Terminal of satellite communication at Bhubaneshwar and this is the only link between Orissa and the rest of the country, he added.

Additional reportage: UNI

ALSO SEE:

Hundreds feared killed as super cyclone devastates Orissa coast
Met department cut off from cyclone observatories

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