Relief eludes many flood victims

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR, JULY 21. Even as the worst is over and there is no immediate threat of further floods in Orissa due to improvement in the weather, relief continued to elude a large number of people till Saturday in many marooned villages of the badly affected coastal districts.

The water level in most of the rivers had started falling. But hundreds of villages in the coastal belt continued to look like islands in high waters as the flood water was not getting discharged due to high tides in the sea. Smooth discharge of flood waters was likely to begin from tomorrow.

Friday being the `Amavasya', there were high tides in the Bay of Bengal and the tides were likely to continue till the wee hours of Sunday.

A total of 70 lakh people have been hit by the floods which came in three spells during the past 10 days, the State Revenue Minister, Mr. Biswabhushan Harichandan, said today.

Of the total 30 districts, as many as 21 had been hit by the current floods, he said. The death toll has gone up to 43.

Although Mr. Harichandan claimed that the authorities had been able to make relief reach almost all the flood victims and said that only five villages remained inaccessible till this afternoon, the ground reality was something different.

During a visit to the Niali Block in Cuttack district today, it was found that air-dropping of food packets had not taken place in many pockets and there were only two Army boats available to do the job of carrying relief to the distant hamlets.

It was taking about three hours for an Army boat to make one trip to the villages where people were still trapped by water.

In fact, there was not much shortage of food material to be distributed among the lakhs of flood victims. While there was sufficient relief material on one side, people were going without food in many villages surrounded by flood waters.

The State Government is facing the problem of non- availability of sufficient number of boats.

Only about 100 power boats and about 1000 country boats were available for carrying out rescue and relief work in the affected region.

In its attempt to further intensify the relief operations, the State Government is procuring 4 lakh rolls of polythene sheets to be given to the people who had moved out of their villages and taken shelter on national highways, State highways and other safer places or whose houses have collapsed.

About one lakh polythene rolls have already been dispatched to the affected areas.

According to the Special Relief Commissioner, Mr. Hrushikesh Panda, tents are also being procured from different sources. The Gujarat Government is sending 4,000 tents for the flood victims, he said.

As only packets of dry food, mainly flattened rice, was being air-dropped in the marooned areas, and was also being sent across to people by various ways, the State Government is procuring large quantities of flattened rice from the neighbouring States of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

At present, as many as 30 trucks of flattened rice is being procured daily, Mr. Panda said.

In the accessible areas, free kitchens have been opened by the respective district administrations and prominent voluntary agencies.

About two lakh people are being provided cooked food at these free kitchens, the Revenue Minister told presspersons this afternoon.

As on date, as many as eight columns of Army, seven teams of Navy personnel and five teams from the Coast Guard have been engaged in carrying out relief and rescue operations. Besides, 57 platoons of State Armed Police and several companies of para- military forces have also been pressed into service.

As regards air-dropping of food packets, a total of 70 sorties had been carried out till Saturday afternoon. A total of six helicopters were used for air-dropping of food today.

As there has been considerable improvement in the weather and the two helicopters which were out of order had been put to use, more food packets are likely to be dropped in the affected region tomorrow.

If the situation arises, and if requested by the State Government, the Air Force is ready to provide more helicopters within 24 hours, Air Marshal S.G. Inamdar, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Command, said here today. He flew in from Shillong today to oversee the air relief operations.

PTI reports:

The Central Command in Lucknow has rushed men and materials to assist the civil administration in the relief and rescue operations in flood-hit Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Jeypore and Khordha districts of Orissa.

Six engineering and two infantry columns have been moved for rescue operations while five columns have already been airlifted from Allahabad, Gwalior and Bhopal as sought by the Orissa Government, a Central Command spokesman said today.

CPI(M) concern

UNI reports from Delhi:

The politburo of the Communist party of India (Marxist) has expressed deep concern over the damage caused by floods in Orissa and criticised the State Government for its failure to tackle the situation effectively.

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