Jajpur, August 11: “We have not taken a single meal since last three days.Whatever local residents had provided, all are finished. Now my five-member starved family is waiting for the succor braving heavy rain.
Even we are yet to get a piece of polythene,” told 70-year-old Dharanidhar Samal of Chandramuhan village, which was badly hit in the August 5 tornado.
“I have been deprived of relief only because I am not a supporter of the ruling political party,” he said. Samal broke down while describing his plights.
“I had never seen such devastation which caused heavy damage to our village. The impact was in fact more than that of 1999 super cyclone,” he maintained.
Same is case with 65-year-old Malli Bewa of Madhapur village, Hema Mallick of Jhinkiri village and Khatun Bibi of Kurbani Mohalla in the district.
“We are spending sleep-less nights under the open sky. None has provided us a piece of polythene or cooked food. The local elected representatives provided help for their supporters staying near us. But they even didn’t look at us as because we were not their supporters,” Bewa told while tears rolling down her cheeks.
Not only four tornado victims in Jajpur district have been deprived of relief. According to sources over a hundred families out of 602 worst-hit families have been victims of nasty rural politics.
The incessant rain since that day has doubled the plight of the victims. These families are living in their respective broken houses braving heavy rain.
Though the district administration claimed that it has provided relief materials to all the victims, locals alleged the elected
representatives were allegedly providing them as per their political affiliation.
“We have provided 550 pieces of polythene and cooked food, the next day. But some people were demanding more polythene sheets. But as the government has stopped supplying polythene since the super cyclone, we are finding it difficult to provide them the same,” told collector Sanjay Kumar Singh.
Odisha.in