Bhubaneswar, Sep 26: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday stressed on zero casualty as the cyclone Gulab is likely to make landfall on Sunday midnight.

Reviewing the preparedness for for cyclone Gulab, the Chief Minister instructed the district Collectors to ensure evacuation of people living in low-lying areas, slopes and other vulnerable pockets by 4 pm (Sunday).

The Chief Minister held a video conference with Collectors of 11 districts – Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Koraput, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Khurda, Nayagarh, Puri and Kalahandi.

He instructed to finish the evacuation process by 4pm on Sunday.

“The SOP has to be followed by shifting pregnant women to hospitals first,” said Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena said.

 “The Chief Minister has stressed on zero casualty and deployment of NDRF, ODRAF and Fire personnel at vulnerable and most appropriate spots for facilitating timely operations. We are still battling COVID, so the Chief Minister has directed to ensure social distance and masks at safe-shelters to check transmission of COVID,” said the SRC.