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Relief turns into farce as supplies pile up in Bhubaneswar

''Help the victims of the super cyclone''-- screams a banner at the Bhubaneswar railway station, reminding one of the unprecedented disaster that hit the Orissa coast on October 29. But the relief operations reception counter remains unattended. Large quantities of relief materials are piled up on the platforms with no takers.

Cartons, boxes and polythene bags inscribed ''for the super cyclone victims of Orissa'' lie around. These contain everything from rice, dal, gur and wheat to dress materials, medicines, polythene covers and baby food. The consignees are individuals as well as voluntary organisations, government agencies and charitable trusts.

These materials have been lying on the platforms for days together in the custody of the railway authorities, with the state government officials finding little time to process the items and forward the consignments to the affected areas. Even the medicines sent by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund are lying uncared and unprotected. The plight of the officials accompanying the larger consignments is still worse.

A senior government official from Hyderabad, who has to hand over a consignment of medicines, says it is frustrating to see the attitude of the officials in Bhubaneswar. ''We have come here from far off places to help the cyclone victims but we are much distressed by the attitude of the government officials in charge of the relief operation. We have to run from pillar to post to get our consignment acknowledged by the officials,'' says J Appa Rao. ''Look, these materials are all medicines and urgently required at the field but they have been lying here for days together,'' he laments and alleges a total lack of coordination among the relief operation staff.

Other officials who have arrived with huge stocks of relief materials also complain that ''to get an acknowledgement from the government, one has to wait here for days together.'' Dress materials despatched by the residents of Nanganullar and 49, G N Chetty Street, Madras, are lying scattered on the platform. The parcels have become loosened, the dresses and other materials almost spilling out of the gunny bags.

Another packet addressed to the collector of Paradeep has also been lying on the platform for the past several days. So also the packets from the Youngmen's Islamic Association of Salem in Tamil Nadu. A railway official says that since it will be difficult to hand over the relief packets to the person concerned -- each of it addressed to either the chief minister, the chief secretary or collectors of various districts -- the Special Relief Commissioner's office has been asked to clear the consignments.

An aggrieved Mijhi Rao says a consignment of molasses ( gur) has been lying on the platform for the past week as also bags of channa (pulses) and other food materials. These could get spoilt if not moved within the next few days. Meanwhile, the Kalinga stadium has become the coordinating centre for the relief materials for the seven cyclone-affected districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Puri and Khurda. According to official sources, as on November 21, the authorities had supplied 1,630 truckloads of relief materials containing rice, chuda, gur, biscuits, fruits, candles, milk powder and medicines.

The Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts, the worst hit in the super cyclone, have received 400 and 368 truckloads respectively of relief materials so far by road. As many as 135 truckloads of medicines have also been supplied. Despite the tall claims of the government that it had enough relief materials, the victims in the remote villages remain half starved.

The relief materials are also piling up at the block and district headquarters from where they have to be despatched to the villages through the local ward members and sarpanchs. At many places, the villagers alleged that they were not getting the relief as the sarpanchs and the ward members decide on distributing relief in the village on political considerations. At Erasama, the worst affected block in Orissa where more than 6,000 people have been killed, huge stocks of dress materials were found piled up at the block headquarters. Yet little children were seen moving half-naked in the chilly weather.

Besides the relief coordination cell at Kalinga stadium another Non-Governmental Organisation coordination cell is providing guidance to the international and the local NGOs. However, several leading voluntary organisations have expressed displeasure over the conduct of the relief operations saying there is a complete lack of coordination at the state and block levels. All relief materials are being despatched to the district collector, from there to the blocks and then to the affected panchayats and villages.

An activist of the Bharat Seva Ashram Sangh, who had come with the relief materials alleged that the local administration was not cooperating with them. ''Our chief has even threatened to close down the relief operation in the state,'' says Sushidhar Choudhary from Adra, Purulia. Voluntary organisations who prefer to carry out relief operations on their own also face problems from the local politicians who try to dictate terms.

They want the state government to give clear cut directions on conducting relief operations. There have also been allegations that the officials, too scared to go to the villages and face the victim's wrath, instead leave the whole operation at the hands of influential people in the area without verifying whether the materials reach the needy people. In the process, some grab sizeable quantities of relief materials and leave others to starve.

UNI

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