ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Cyclone batters lives in Orissa

Balavadra Das in Ambiki (Orissa)

Relief material arriving from every state, promises of help by the Orissa government and non-government organisations and sympathy pouring in from all corners of the world fail to dispel Sriram's worries.

A fisherman of Ambiki village in the worst cyclone-affected Ersama block of Jagatsinghpur district, Sriram is worried about how he would support his six-member family once the relief distribution came to an end.

The super cyclone turned the prosperous fisherman, who was earning enough to provide a decent life to his children, into a pauper.

''The cyclone, followed by huge tidal waves, swept away my three-room kuccha house, boat, fishing net and destroyed all the 20 coconut trees in my courtyard. We somehow managed to rush to a nearby school building and survived,'' he said.

''In every three months I used to sell coconuts worth Rs 500 and was earning more than Rs 1,500 every month on an average from fishing. The 10-acre land that I own produced enough paddy to sustain my family for the whole year. But now everything is gone,'' he murmured.

Millions of people spread across hundreds of villages which dot the Orissa coast face the same fate.

According to an official source, 29,769 hectares of coconut plantation, worth Rs 1,480 million was destroyed in the cyclone.

D Mohapatra, who lost 165 coconut trees, said fresh plantation would take a minimum of five years to bear fruit. ''It would be very difficult for me to manage my house... I don't have any other source of income,'' he said.

Gangu Behera, a fisherman, said the government aid of Rs 3,000 to those who lost their boats and Rs 1,500 for those who lost their nets would not serve any purpose. He said a sarani net costs Rs 70,000, a binti net Rs 6,000 and a boat Rs 7,000. ''What do we do with the kind of money the government is offering?'' he asked.

''Instead of giving us money, the government should provide us nets and boats as it did in 1971 if they really want to help us,'' he said.

With the crop destroyed and his pair of bullocks dead, only one question haunts Satyananda Dalai: what would he feed his children?

When told that the government was planning to mobilise bullocks and power tillers from other states and provide seeds, he expressed his doubt and said when the government was not able to provide seeds during normal times, how could it provide so many things to so many people now.

Official sources said more than 300,000 cattle heads perished and crops spread over 14.1 million hectares of land were destroyed.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report