Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra accompanied by former Deputy Speaker of Odisha legislative Assembly and national vice-president of BJP Kissan Morcha Rama Chandra Panda visited the Phailin and flood-hit Ganjam district on Wednesday morning to take stock of the damage and the relief programme of the State Government.
Mohapatra visited the marooned villages of Poirasi gram panchayat (GP) under Ganjam block and Pottlampur GP under Chatrapur block and met hundreds of victims. Mohapatra squarely blamed both State and Central Governments for forcing lakhs of citizens and children of different villages in Ganjam district, including the people of the slum and low-lying areas in Brahmapur city , to stay hungry for days together amidst untold sufferings. The State Government failed to rescue the flood affected victims of marooned villages in time, even though there was a continuous forecasting about the calamities, he charged. Had the Government taken preventive measures, people would not have suffered like this, he said.
The BJP leader ridiculed the sky-high claim of the State Government that several lakhs people were shifted to safer places on the eve of Phailin, what he described as hallow.
On the contrary, Mohapatra said the credit should go to the advanced information and satellite technology, media, and the local volunteers. Many people in Sarabhimpur, Rukunigaon and Nandapandapalli villages complained that they had got no polythene, nor was food served to them. Mohapatra found that in Boulagaon and Mahanadpur GP under Chatrapur and Poirasi GP, Santoshpur GP, and Umbhuri Khatia GP under Ganjam, vast stretches of crop land had been submerged, causing extensive damages to the standing crops.
Mohapatra said that the condition of the farmers and the poor people is extremely serious and the economic backbone of Ganjam district has totally been shattered. “The State Government should not have returned NDRF force to the Center. Instead, the services of the NDRF could have been effectively utilized in relief and rescue operations. When the State is unable to provide adequate and timely relief to the victims, why the services of NDRF force was deniedIJ” he asked.
Mohapatra also alleged that the Central team members who recently visited the worst hit Ganjam district did not feel it proper to get down from their car and interact with the victims. The district administration also reportedly intimidated the victims not to meet the members. Describing the whole process as shocking, Mohapatra said the attitude reflects the mindset of the Government towards the crisis-ridden victims.
He urged the Government for immediate restoration of power supply to all the cyclone affected villages. Among others, Sameer Mohanty and Dillip Mallik were present.