BHUBANESWAR: Even as the state Government shifted lakhs of people to cyclone shelters, a majority of women and the differently-abled moved in with a sense of reluctance.
Sanitation issues were their biggest concern as several permanent shelters were dilapidated and unfit for accommodating a large number of people besides lacking an adequate number of toilets.
Since Wednesday night, the administration of 11 districts evacuated more than 3.5 lakh people from vulnerable areas to 4,756 cyclone shelters, both temporary and permanent ones, as a precautionary measure against Cyclone Dana.
Though the government is ensuring a steady supply of both dry and cooked food, drinking water, baby food and medicines at all the shelters, people in many places alleged that no steps had been taken to address the sanitation issues.
Giving the example of the multi-purpose cyclone shelter at Biras under Basudevpur in Bhadrak which falls in the track of the cyclone, a local member of Odisha Viklang Manch Akshya Sahoo said the cyclone shelter has not been cleaned and none of the three washrooms are in usable condition.
"Maintenance of these facilities is only done when natural calamities approach. But in this case, no work has been done despite the fact that it will accommodate 350 to 400 people for the next few days," he alleged.
Though a majority of the multi-purpose cyclone shelters have ramps for entry of people on wheelchairs, the bathrooms are not accessible.
"Though this is not the first time that we were brought here, the administration has not yet given a thought to our basic access to toilets in the shelter," said Ramakant Biswas, a differently-abled resident of Biras village.
At the shelter near Amarnagar in Dhamra, Sita Jena, Mamata Singh and other women of the village were reluctant to shift because they were wary of the lack of usable toilets.
The shelter is occupied by 300 people and an equal number of people have been accommodated at Amarnagar UP school nearby.
"The village is worst affected during cyclones and we shift to the shelter every time there is a warning. But we have always returned home with urinary infections because the bathrooms become unusable within hours," said Sita.
She further pointed out that for menstruating women and girls, the problem is worse.
"Because there is no room for them to change and toilets are unclean," she added.
The situation isn't any different at the cyclone shelter in Pentha, which is 500 metres away from the sea, in Kendrapara. Although the district administration has deployed sweepers to clean the four toilets - two for men and as many for women - in the facility which is operational since Wednesday, women have their concerns.