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Toll in Orissa may even cross 10,000

More than 10,000 people are now feared to have perished in the super cyclone that battered Orissa, even as the spectre of an epidemic began haunting the state in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

"At least 5,000 people have died in Paradip alone and the figure is definitely going to be more than double if you take into account the devastation in other worst-affected areas," Biju Janata Dal politician Bijay Mahapatra said after a tour of Paradip and Kendrapara.

Mahapatra told reporters in the state capital Bhubaneswar that hundreds of bloated bodies were seen floating in those areas.

"An epidemic has already started in Choudwar and a few other areas of Cuttack district where doctors and medicines have been rushed," Cuttack Collector Pradeep Jena said.

Patients have also started fleeing the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack following shortage of drinking water and food.

All the opposition parties have demanded that rescue, relief and restoration operations be handed over to the armed forces to save the lives of the starving millions. They have also demanded the deployment of army doctors and paramedical staff to prevent an epidemic.

"There is a total breakdown of the law-and-order machinery and only the armed forces can help tide over the situation," Mahapatra said.

The state administration's relief operations have hardly covered 20 per cent of the affected area, forcing desperate mobs elsewhere to resort to looting of food and relief material.

Echoing the demand for the deployment of more army and paramilitary personnel in the state, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Juel Oram, who reviewed the situation in Cuttack, criticised the state government for failing to co-ordinate rescue, relief and restoration work properly.

"Chaos prevails in the entire area owing to a lack of co-ordination among different state departments," Oram said.

Collector Jena said troops had to be deployed on National Highway 5 to prevent the looting of food and other relief material.

"Starving people led by anti-socials have ransacked the Cuttack Malgodown, the state's wholesale market, and looted many shops. We have posted CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] jawans there," he said.

Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang urged the people not to panic and called upon political parties to deploy their cadres to prevent looting of relief trucks.

Though Indian Air Force helicopters were extensively used to airdrop food packets in inaccessible areas during the day, relief and rescue operations in four affected districts was severely hampered by flash floods.

State Special Relief Commissioner D N Pandhi said in Bhubaneswar today that the flash floods caused by incessant rains that accompanied the super cyclone had cut off almost all roads to Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur and Bhadrak.

"It has virtually become impossible to mobilise the rescue-and-relief operation as the rivers in coastal and north Orissa are in spate and flowing over the roads, including the national highways," Pandhi said.

He said troops were trying their best to clear roads leading to the worst-affected areas. But he claimed that the troops were able to reach Kendrapara by road during the day and had been trying to approach Jagatsinghpur. "Once the troops reach the two districts, the relief work will be taken up on a war footing," he promised.

The state government has requested the Centre to supply more powerboats to carry out relief operations in the marooned villages.

Pandhi said 29 wagons carrying food packets had already arrived and those would be distributed in the affected areas. An army column has also been asked to proceed to the affected areas from Ganjam, he added.

Though the officials confirmed that only 125 bodies had so far been recovered from the affected areas, a report from Cuttack said at least 300 people were killed in the district and property worth Rs 10 billion had been damaged.

All educational institutions in the affected districts have been closed for at least a week on the state government's orders. Most of the educational buildings are sheltering thousands of evacuees.

The state capital is yet to return to normal with most areas still without electricity and water. Pandhi said the government would soon be able to restore power to some vital installations and efforts are on to supply electricity and water to other areas of the city.

Sources said standing crops in all nine coastal districts had been destroyed. Tens of thousands of livestock have perished in the cyclone.

The telecommunication department has not yet been able to restore the telephone lines in the city. As a result, the state capital is still cut off from other parts of the country and also the other districts in the state as the microwave link system has been totally damaged.

Jena said that a large number of villages in Salepur, Mahanga, Niali, Kantapada and Nischintakoili blocks in Cuttack district had been destroyed by the cyclone.

RELIEF MEASURES

The IAF dropped 16,000 packets of food and airlifted personnel, equipment and supplies to the state, while more than 5,000 army personnel fanned out in the devastated areas to distribute water, food and medicines and clear roads.

The navy's sea-lift ships Ghorpad and Sharabh entered Paradip port today and unloaded much needed stores, including gas cylinders and generators. The navy also salvaged seven sunken boats and cleared approaches to the turning basin at the port.

An IAF spokesman said Il-76 transport aircraft flew more than 62,000 food packets from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Bhubaneshwar, besides 130 personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force.

An-32 aircraft picked up four tonnes of foodstuff from Visakhapatnam and dropped 16,000 packets in the badly affected places. A Mi-26 helicopter was also used for the first time for relief operations. It carried two huge diesel generators from Jamshedpur in neighbouring Bihar to Paradip for use to cool the ammonia plants.

The IAF spokesman said relief operations began in the early morning hours with helicopters taking off from Kalaikunda, Kumbigram and Bagdogra air bases in West Bengal.

An army spokesman said eight columns were deployed, with two field medical units, in the Balasore and Soro areas, while the other units were deployed around Bhubaneswar to clear roads, restore communications, and provide medical aid.

From 74 villages, more than 12,000 people were evacuated to safer places, while 10,000 food packets were distributed using boats and helicopters.

Signal communications using INMARSAT terminals were provided at Bhubaneswar and Balasore. So far the army has cleared seven roads. Medical units, with surgical teams, have been set up in Bhubaneswar and Balasore.

ARMY PROTECTION

Late in the night, the army also agreed to provide protection to convoys carrying relief material for the people.

Meanwhile, fresh floods marooned Bhadrak and Jajpur districts following swelling of the rain-fed Lalinal and Baityarani rivers.

The floods cut off the districts from the rest of India after National Highway 5 was breached at five points. The highway connects the two districts with Calcutta.

About 5 km of rail track was also washed away by the floods, cutting off Bhadrak.

The state government sought the army's help for smooth distribution of relief material as people are indulging in looting.

The army said it would co-ordinate with the agencies to provide relief materials. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting in the presence of Lieutenant General Surjeet Singh Sangra, general officer commanding in chief, central command.

Briefing reporters later, the Bihar-Orissa sub-area commandant, Brigadier Rajinder Singh Rawat, said the army would work in close co-ordination with the state government to ensure the safe distribution of relief material in the affected areas.

UNI

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