Chief Secretary Asit Tripathi held a review meeting on Friday to ensure that all precautionary steps have been taken to deal with any untoward situation arising due to the cyclone.

All the district collectors, especially the district collectors of North Odisha, have been asked to keep an eye on the situation.

Tripathi had a detailed discussion with the collectors of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Balasore and Bhadrak districts about the steps to be taken for the possible storm through video conferencing.

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena said that according to the IMD, the low pressure over the southeast part of the Bay of Bengal can deepen into a depression and then move south over the southern part of the Bay of Bengal and the central part adjacent to it. It can turn into a cyclonic storm by the evening of May.

The SRC said, “It is not certain whether the storm will hit north Odisha or move towards West Bengal or Bangladesh. Right now the situation is not clear. But the government is ready to deal with a possible cyclone. As a precaution we have 12 district collectors Has been put on high alert. “

Jena said that the Odisha Disaster Action Force (ODRAF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and firefighters have been asked to be prepared. However, the decision to deploy them will be taken after the IMD indicates about the path of the cyclone.