Cyclone Hudhud: Media spotlight on reconstruction

The city's airport has been damaged in the cyclone

Media in India feel the cyclone-hit city of Vizag in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh needs rapid reconstruction work to bounce back as an industrial hub.

Cyclone Hudhud, which pounded the city and other areas along India's east coast, has caused massive destruction.

The city's road infrastructure, power lines and the airport have been badly affected.

"Air connectivity will take another week. But what has hobbled the city's trudge back to normality is that power supply has not resumed yet. Which means no Internet, no mobile connectivity.

The cyclone has turned Visakhapatnam [Vizag] into an island of destruction," says a report in the Deccan Chronicle.

The Times of India adds that "there seems to be no early end in sight to the misery of the people in Vizag... as it will take at least another two weeks before power supply is completely restored".

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has been working from a makeshift office in the city to oversee the reconstruction work, reports say.

The NDTV website says Mr Naidu's stress on reconstruction "illustrates why his administration believes that piecing Vizag back together to a booming industrial town could cost millions".

Many consider the city as an emerging investment destination, but papers feel the cyclone seems to have affected the image.

"Apart from loss of property post Cyclone Hudhud, Vizag has also lost its brand image as the only investment destination in Andhra Pradesh," says a report in the Deccan Chronicle.

The cyclone snapped several key power lines in the city

Fishing boats have also suffered damages

Several roads and railway lines have been destroyed

The city's fishing industry is also suffering massive losses. Reports say that some fishing boats have been damaged in the cyclone and others are not able to function due to a shortage of fuel.

Papers also feel that the cyclone has disturbed Mr Naidu's plans of making Vizag an IT destination like Hyderabad.

"The swanky building of the Vizag Startup Village, which was recently opened amid much fanfare less than a fortnight ago by Mr Naidu himself, was a picture of destruction as its glass facade was blown to smithereens by cyclone Hudhud," reports The Times of India.

The offices of several IT firms based in Vizag have also been damaged. "The cyclone also ravaged the offices of most of the IT firms located at the picturesque Rushikonda IT Park," says the report.

'Top cop for a day'

Meanwhile, media are praising a high voter turnout in Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections.

The two states voted on Wednesday and results are due on Sunday. The northern state of Haryana "created history" with its highest-ever turnout of 76%, breaking the previous record of 72.65% set in 1967, reports say. The western state of Maharashtra also recorded a good turnout of 64%.

And finally, a 10-year-old boy became Hyderabad's police commissioner for a day on Wednesday. Sadiq, who has cancer, wanted to become a police officer to "catch criminals", and the city's police decided to fulfil his wish.

 Hyderabad police chief Mahendar Reddy readily agreed to step aside for a day, saying he felt happy to fulfil little Sadiq's wish, according to a report on the NDTV website.

Sadiq told Make a Wish Foundation, an organisation that works with terminally ill children, that he wanted to become the police commissioner of the city.