Cyclone FANI brought massive losses to the coastlines of Indian cities. The cyclone which entered the mainland from Orissa caused damages in the cities of Puri and Bhubaneshwar. However, owing to the awareness of people and the efforts of mitigations for the calamity, the citizens were able to avoid fatal losses. Slowly as Orissa is recovering from the cyclone's havoc, the telecom and water services are beginning to come back on track. According to Bhubaneshwar Smart City Limited (BSCL) citizens are able to connect to the network of any telecom operator in the state since all the telcos have merged their networks.
City Authorities Praise Telcos for the Step
The telcos have done this to ensure proper communication between the citizens and to help them get through perilous times. Users who would like to use data will also be able to do so by going to the Settings and turning on the Data Roaming option. All the operators in the state, BSNL, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio have come together and merged their network so people will be able to experience seamless communication. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) have praised the companies for their move.
It was also noted that Cyclone FANI claimed a total of 29 lives during its stint in the mainland on the second day. Some of the other damages which the cyclone caused in Orissa were power cuts, water shortage, and more. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced that all families in the Khurda and Puri who have been "extremely severely effected" in the storm will get 50Kgs of rice, Rs 2,000 in cash and polythene sheets if covered under the Food Security Act (FSA).
Kerala has also extended a helping hand to the state, as the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, "Government of Kerala and its people offer all assistance including sending of medical teams, providing fire and rescue services and electricity personnel if you deem any of them necessary. We will also be able to provide provisions, clothing, tarpaulin and other essentials in numbers that you may indicate."
Dish TV and D2h Set up Free Services Camps
Notably, many companies have lent their help in Orissa to help the people get over the calamity and restore services to normal after the cyclone. While Reliance Jio and Reliance Foundation deployed their workforce to restore towers, help the citizens and to keep the communications going, we saw Airtel set up war camps in the affected areas and provide free services to the customers for five days. Also, DTH providers D2h and Dish TV have set up free service camps where subscribers will be able to get their damaged outdoor units or set-top boxes repaired without any cost.
