BJD mocks government's ‘zero casualty’, says four killed in Dana
BHUBANESWAR: Disputing the ‘zero casualty’ claim of the BJP government, opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday asserted that cyclone Dana claimed four lives including one in Keonjhar, the home district of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
Accusing the state government of utter mismanagement in handling the pre and post-cyclone situation, BJD spokesperson Lekhashree Samantasinghar told a media conference here that the ‘zero casualty’ claim of the BJP government is ridiculous as three deaths have been reported from Rajnagar, one of the worst affected blocks of Kendrapara district while another came from Keonjhar district.
She said the government miserably failed to handle the situation with complaints coming in from the people about poor arrangements in cyclone shelters so far as food and drinking water supply are concerned. Besides, the claim of shifting more than eight lakh people to cylone shelters is nothing but a highly-exaggerated figure, she added.
“The government was well aware of the intensity of the cyclonic storm but misled the people by exaggerating about the speed of the wind creating unnecessary panic. It got enough time for preparedness but the entire focus was on cheap publicity and how to derive maximum mileage from the calamity,” she said.
Samantasinghar said the BJP government was least concerned about the safety of the people and more eager to get a good certificate from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The BJD demands a white paper from the government about the number of human casualties, exact number of people evacuated to safer places and detailed accommodation of people in each of the cyclone shelters,” she said.
The BJD leader said whatever success the BJP government achieved is because of the solid foundation laid by former chief minister Naveen Patnaik for disaster management. She also hit out at the government for ignoring MLAs of the opposition political parties during district review of cyclone situation by ministers.
Responding to allegations of Samantasinghar, BJP spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra said it is unfortunate that the BJD is doing politics at a time of natural calamity.