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Orissa govt leaves cyclone survivors out in the cold

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar

While politicians and bureaucrats are busy blaming each other over the polythene shortage in the cyclone affected areas in Orissa, nearly 3,000 people in the worst affected Erasama block are down with pneumonia.

And that is what the official records say. Unofficial reports put the figure at 22,000.

The population of Erasama block is 1,44,716. Even if it is assumed that 15,000 people died in the cyclone and its aftermath, there are still 1.3 lakh people left. Most of them have lost their houses, have no warm clothes and are poorly fed.

The government has so far distributed a little over 4,000 polythene rolls while the requirement is more than 15,000. Even the block development officer admits that it is like a drop in the ocean.

Villages like Padmapur, Ramtara, Chaulia, Baghadi, Hadiapal and Saliogarh are in bad shape and in Ambiki village half of the people are down with fever, cold and pneumonia.

The doctors explain it to be a combination of many factors. People who survived the cyclone and its aftermath are physically debilitated. Many of them are very depressed. They get hardly any good food to eat and potable water is not available. Above all, most of them spend cold winter nights under open sky without any protection from cold.

"You must thank god that there are not more victims,'' said a victim.

Meanwhile, the IAS officers lobby in the state has criticised the chief minister for suspending the state rehabilitation commissioner for alleged irregularities in purchase of polythene rolls.

The officers have argued that the SRC could not be faulted and it was the government's inefficiency for which an IAS officer was being made a scapegoat.

UNI

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