Naveen Patnaik announces Rs.5 crore aid for Uttarakhand

Naveen-PatnaikBhubaneswar, June 20 : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday announced assistance of Rs. 5 crore for disaster-hit Uttarakhand, where floods and landslides have washed away thousands of homes and killed over 150 people.

The aid would be provided from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, an official of the Chief Minister's office told IANS.

Although local media reports said about 100 people from the state have been stranded in Uttarakhand, officials here are yet to confirm the figure.

The state government has set up a 24x7 helpline number (011-23019771) at the office of the resident commissioner of Odisha at New Delhi for affected people belonging to Odisha.

"We do not have any exact number of Odiyas stranded or killed. However, we have received more than 500 calls since Wednesday," an official attending to calls on the helpline said.(IANS)