Odisha has demanded financial assistance worth 2616.19 crore rupees from the Centre to compensate the heavy crop loss due to rain. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night at New Delhi and requested to release 400 crore rupees immediately for providing agriculture subsidy to the affected farmers. Mr Patnaik submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister and apprised him of the ground realities. He told Dr Singh that in the last six months, Odisha bore the brunt of natural calamities of rare severity. Mr Patnaik also said over 37,000 of a total 51,000 villages have been affected by the severe drought in August and September last followed by widespread untimely rain in first week of this month. The Prime Minister has reportedly assured the Odisha Chief Minster that a Central team will soon visit the rain-hit areas of the state.