Because of erratic rainfall due to climate change, Bhubaneswar sees frequent spells of unexpected heavy rainfall. With natural drainage channels illegally encroached, this poses a big problem.
With the Centre’s new guidelines to slowly kickstart the economy, Odisha, too, has announced partial lockdown relaxation. But the problems that formal and informal sectors here face now is representative of what all states will have to tackle post May 3rd.
CM Naveen Patnaik has been proactive in initiating some harsh measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. And the learnings and systems used to manage Cyclone Fani a few years back has come in useful in the state’s handling of the COVID outbreak.