Agartala, Aug 29: As decided by the State Executive Committee (SEC) of Tripura Disaster Management Authority (TDMA) in its latest meeting, Tripura has been notified as ‘Natural Calamity Affected Area’ in view of the recent floods that devastated the state.

Revenue secretary Brijesh Pandey confirmed it in a press conference on Thursday, adding that Tripura has experienced extensive floods, leading to loss of human lives and damage, destruction and loss of both public and private infrastructures and properties.

He confirmed deaths of 32 persons in the natural calamity. He also said, the preliminary assessment suggested loss of worth Rs. 15,000 crore due to damages on account of recent floods.

Speaking to the media, the Revenue secretary mentioned, 346 relief camps are currently operational with around 52,906 persons across Tripura.

The press meet was also attended by Director, Tourism department- Prashanta Badal Negi and Director, Disaster Management J V Doati.

In the meantime, the Inter-Ministerial Central Team that arrived in the state and held meeting with the top officials on Wednesday, inspected several areas for on-site assessment on Thursday.

The six-member IMCT, led by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, B.C. Joshi, divided into two sub-teams, began touring various flood affected areas like Belonia in South Tripura, Sonamura, Udaipur, Dumboor, Khowai and interacted with the local officials and people.

The team, led by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, B.C. Joshi on Thursday toured one of the most affected sub-divisions, Belonia under South Tripura district. 

The other team, led by Mahesh Kumar, Dy. Director, Finance Ministry visited the Gomati district and inspected the affected areas on both sides of old Subhash Setu on the Gomati river, Maharani barrage area, defunct LI Irrigation projects, damaged fields cropping at Hirapur, the damaged Agartala- Udaipur highway at Gandhari.

In Gomati district, the team was accompanied by Jayanta Bhattacharya and B.B. Das, both additional district magistrates, state disaster management project officer Sharat Kumar Das and other district officials. They also visited affected areas at Kakraban and Jatanbari, Dumboor areas close to the south district.

The 6-member team comprises senior officials from the Departments of Agriculture, Expenditure (Ministry of Finance), and Ministries of Jal Shakti, Rural Development, and Road Transport and Highways.