'Bulbul' claims 2 lives in Odisha, extensive damage to crops
Bhubaneswar: Heavy rain and high-velocity winds triggered by cyclone 'Bulbul' claimed at least two lives and wreaked havoc in most parts of coastal Odisha, officials said on Sunday.
A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel was seriously injured during restoration operation in Bhadrak district, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Shyama Bhakta Mishra said.
The cyclone also caused extensive damage to crops in the coastal districts, leaving farmers in the lurch, the officials said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to make an aerial survey of the affected districts on Monday afternoon, an official said.
Patnaik will review damage caused by the calamity and restoration measures undertaken thereafter, he said.
Though the cyclone skipped Odisha and made landfall between West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts on Saturday, heavy downpour and gale-force winds left a trail of destruction, damaging hundreds of houses, uprooting trees, electric poles and affecting telecom towers in the state, they said.
While the death of an elderly man was reported earlier owing to wall collapse in Kendrapara on Saturday, another casualty due to drowning came to light on Sunday in Mahakalapada area of the district, a senior official said.
Manoranjan Prasad, who headed an NDRF unit, was busy clearing uprooted trees in Basuvedpur area when an electric pole fell on him, Mishra said.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital and then shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
"#CycloneBulbul - Personally sad that Manoranjan - a colleague of #NDRFamily got serious head/spine injury from falling electric pole while clearing fallen trees @Bhadrak.
Pls #Pray4Manoranjan. He needs&deserves it," NDRF Director General Satyanarayan Pradhan said in a tweet.
The authorities had put in place elaborate arrangements to deal with the impact of the cyclonic storm in over 10 of Odisha's 30 districts.
Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts bore the maximum brunt and suffered extensive damage to crops, the senior official said.
Around 40 per cent standing crops and over six lakh hectares of cultivable land spread over five districts have been damaged due to rain and strong winds triggered by 'Bulbul', Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Jena.
Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Central) Anil Samal, who visited several parts of Bhadrak district, said standing crops in Chabdbali, Dhamra and Basudevpur areas suffered major damage.
As per initial reports, about 5,500 houses have been damaged and a detailed assessment will be done within a week, Jena said.
Power supply has been restored in most affected areas, and the task is expected to be completed by November 12, the officials said, adding, all the roads have been cleared of uprooted trees.
As many as 20 teams of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), six units of the NDRF and 226 fire services teams were pressed into service in the restoration operation, they added.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
