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

Search Rediff

Distribution of relief material poses problems in Orissa

George Iype in Bhubaneswar

Nineteen days after the super cyclone devastated 12 districts of coastal Orissa, tonnes of relief material is pouring in from across the country and different parts of the world. And that precisely is the problem that Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang confronts.

Relief coordinators and local district administrations have struggled in the past two weeks to distribute relief material piling up in various depots in Bhubaneswar.

Punjab government despatched 300 truckloads of rice, wheat and vegetables a week back, but the trucks are still stranded on the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar national highway as the drivers have not been given instructions where to unload.

The Union government sent13,000 tonnes of food and clothes to Orissa some 10 days ago. But not even 50 per cent this reached the affected villages. Also, only a third of the stock of dhotis and saris found its way to the cyclone-hit areas.

In most of the 12 affected districts, electricity and drinking water supply are yet to be restored. More than 1,00,000 telephones are dead. Thousands of packets of chlorine tablets have reached the state capital, but they are yet to reach the worst-hit villages like Ersama.

"People are dying without food. But in Bhubaneswar we don't have enough space to stock food grains. The Orissa government has failed miserably in distributing relief material,'' Prafulla Kanti, a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader, said.

Some 77 local non-governmental organisations, 17 national NGOs and 20 international aid agencies, including World Vision, UNICEF, UNDP and Oxfam, are working in the affected districts. However, there is no data available with the government as to which agency is doing what in which district.

The state government's apathy does not end with poor distribution of relief material. The government has not entrusted any of its departments to bury or burn dead bodies so far. So incensed was the Union government last week that it sent a team of Delhi's Municipal Corporation employees to bury the dead.

"If we wait for the state government to bury the corpses and carcasses lying all over the marooned villages, it will never happen. Therefore, we are taking the initiative to search for bodies and bury them in mass graves," said an Anand Margi volunteer in Jagatsinghpur.

The state government's Relief Coordination Centre operates from the capital's Kalinga Stadium where thousands of tonnes of relief material is yet to be packed and sent to remote villages. Government officials say some of the relief material could not be sent because at least 400 villages were not accessible by roads.

"Till the army makes new roads, we are handicapped. We are air-dropping material, but that does not help," said one of the officials in charge of the relief centre.

Additional Relief Commissioner A K Jhan, however, claims that food and medicines have been despatched to most of the villages. "The situation has improved. We are now going to take up more concrete measures like reclamation of land, construction of roads, pumps and houses," he said.

State Revenue Minister Jagannath Patnaik said the first phase of house building assistance would be disbursed next week. "A substantial portion of the Central grant of Rs 100 crore will be utilised for building houses," he said.

Patnaik said steps have also been initiated to take up cultivation of Rabi crop and vegetables by providing seeds, power tillers and tractors at subsidised rates to the villagers.

"Relief material has reached every single village. Those who accuse us of botching up distribution of relief material are trying to politicise the matter. For opposition leaders, the cyclone is an election issue, not a human tragedy," he charged.

The revenue minister said the state government requires at least Rs 2,500 crore in central assistance for restoration and reconstruction work. "We have demanded that at least Rs 1,000 crore should be immediately disbursed for the purpose," he added.

Tell us what you think of this report