Though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sought to claim credit for conducting the country’s largest-ever evacuation of people before the cyclone Phailin, he has been failing in managing the two successive floods and in meeting the needs of relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the cyclone and floods.
While the first flood, caused as a resultant of the Phailin, in northern parts of the State left at least 23 dead, the second one caused due to a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal has so far claimed 19 human lives.So, the deaths in the two floods have numbered 42 and the figure may rise further. The Phailin death toll was 21.
The Government’s credit for the massive evacuation, though disputed by many, for a proper handling of the cyclone of course goes to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) for its prediction of the Phailin’s landfall several days before the calamity struck.
Now, while explaining about the mismanagement of the situation arising out of the floods in rivers Rushikulya and Vanshadhara in southern Odisha, Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra said, “Even the IMD could not imagine that rainfall of such a huge volume will occur due to a low pressure off the Tamil Nadu coast.”
So, there is no doubt that the Government does not have a foolproof mechanism to ascertain the intensity of floods and it is totally dependent on the IMD prediction. The massive rainfall has taken place even after the withdrawal of the South-Western Monsoon from the State. What actually worries experts is that the State Government’s flood control division under the Department of Water Resources (DoWR) does not work.
What is the role of Flood Control Cell of DoWRIJ It is in charge of keeping the records of rainfall and climatic situation. But its failure was evident twice, once in case of the floods in river Budhabalang immediately after the Phailin and then due to the low pressure.
The inefficiency of the DoWR, the portfolio held none other than the Chief Minister, is now out and open. The Government could know about the Budhabalang floods only when major parts of Baripada town were inundated with the Mayurbhanj district headquarters hospital being flooded, for the first time in history, forcing the authorities to evacuate the patients and newborn babies to the hospital’s first floor.
In case of the floods in Ganjam, the Government requisitioned choppers only after some people were swept away and floodwaters entered into hundreds of villages.
Fortunately, the Mahanadi didn’t experience floods this time, for which the Government should thank its star.luckily, this time the two floods had their origins within Odisha as no rainwater flew down from the rivers’ catchment areas in other States to make the situation much worse. Yet, neither the local administration nor the Water Resources Department could predict the intensity of the floods.
While in case of the Phailin the State Government had put the entire country on alert, and Army, Navy and Air Force besides NDRF were in the position much before the cyclone made its landfall, no such move was visible during the floods. Though floods occur in Odisha almost every year, the authorities have failed to develop a well-planned network to study and predict the nature of the fury.
Similarly, in the matter of relief measures the Government is being blamed squarely and rightly so, observers say. The calamity victims in most places have been exposed to open raining sky and going without relief materials. The chinks in the Government’s armour have in fact been exposed, add the observers.