The state government has expressed its categorical displeasure at the role of the Centre after the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made an aerial survey of the cyclone-devastated areas of the state on Saturday. The state revenue minister Jagannath Patnaik told newsmen that the administration had expected that the Prime Minister would announce a much bigger grant than the nominal Rs 200 crores and that another Rs 300 crores would have been in order. He said that it would be difficult to even begin work on the relief with this meagre amount.

Patnaik said that it would be in the fitness of things for the Prime Minister to come to this state again since he had toured the cyclone affected areas in so short a time as four hours on Saturday. It was important, he said, that the Prime Minister talk to the affected people themselves and find out for himself the true nature and extent of the damage. In fact, in the bureaucratic circles of Orissa, there is tremendous resentment after the Prime Minister, in consultation with the chief minister Girdhar Gamang set up a committee to oversee the relief operations which, according to many, has not been representative.