Bhubaneswar, Nov 10 (IANS) Leader of Opposition and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday severely criticised the state government’s preparedness to deal with Cyclone Arnab and called for impartial rehabilitation and reconstruction work in flood-ravaged Ganjam district.
In a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Patnaik has also described the devastating flood in Ganjam as a manmade crisis, calling upon the state government to fix accountability for the lapses and ensure stringent punishment.
The BJD supremo also referred to his recent visit to flood-affected areas of Hinjili, Sheragada, Aska and Sorada of Ganjam district and interactions with affected persons on November 7.
Patnaik expressed pain after seeing the sufferings of the people in distress, massive damage to infrastructure, extensive crop losses, loss of lives and destruction of livelihoods during his visit.
He alleged that government negligence has set Ganjam back by several years. He alleged that the state government ignored IMD warnings issued since October 23.
The BJD chief said Ganjam remained vulnerable to heavy rainfall, which typically occurs to the right of a cyclone’s landfall, and stressed that cyclone and flood management SOPs require advance water release from dams and round-the-clock monitoring of reservoir levels.
“However, in the case of Ganjam, water from dams was released by the Water Resources Department after the onset of heavy cyclonic rains. This compounded the floods and caused huge loss of life and property. People have complained that adequate warning was not given to them before the gates were opened,” alleged Patnaik.
“This gross negligence and manmade crisis raises serious issues of accountability. People are demanding strict action against those responsible for such a serious lapse,” he further added.
The LoP alleged that the government has also admitted its lack of preparedness for Ganjam, adding that timely action on warnings could have prevented much of the suffering. He alleged that the delay in the post-flood relief work led to people being marooned for days without food and water.
Patnaik said he has forwarded the representations he received during his visit to the Special Relief Commissioner for immediate action. He urged the government to adopt a “whole of government” approach to ensure timely compensation, adding that “lip service will not work”.
He warned that BJD will not tolerate negligence in relief work by the government and will hold protests from ‘Palli to Delhi’.
The BJD chief also contended that the previous BJD government had built a community-based, globally acclaimed disaster management system in which sarpanches, PRI members and Mission Shakti groups played a major role.
He alleged that neglect of sarpanches and the near closure of Mission Shakti by the BJP government have weakened the community-based disaster response system.
Citing what he termed repeated mishandling of calamities in Ganjam, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Baleshwar, Patnaik asked the government to take responsibility and fix accountability. He said the progress made in 24 years of BJD rule should not be “undone in 24 months by the double engine sarkar”.
–IANS
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