BALASORE: Even as the water level of Subarnarekha river is going down, the flood situation remains grim in low-lying pockets of Bhograi, Baliapal and Jaleswar blocks of Balasore district.
Around 230 villages under 50 panchayats in the blocks are worst affected by the flood. Residents of Uluda, Khardipimpal, Kalikapur villages in Bhograi and Jaleswar blocks were forced to severe communication on a road between Paschimbard and Uluda as water from a tributary of Subarnarekha river, Andia Khal overflowed and entered the villages.
Residents said the tributary started overflowing after receiving water from West Bengal on Thursday morning. Amid the situation, residents of affected areas alleged the free kitchen run by the administration is yet to reach them. A video of a woman from Bishnupur expressing her ire over the alleged administrative apathy has gone viral on social media.
After Kumbhirgadi and Kulha panchayats in Bhograi block, Bada Talapada in Jamkunda in Balipal was adversely affected by the flood. Bada Talapada is located near Subarnarekha and the sea. Several families from the village took refuge on the roofs of their houses as floodwater submerged the village. The villagers were later shifted to safer places after repeated pleas to the local administration.
Chakradhar Sahoo, a local said Bada Talapada comprises two wards and has a population of over 1,500. “All the families in the village are adversely affected by the flood,” he said. Ward members Rabindra Dalei and Kanhu Mangaraj said the district administration has arranged free kitchen in the village but no dry food has yet been provided to the affected people.
The villagers have urged the district administration to provide them dry food as the free kitchen is not enough to cater to their needs.
They demanded that Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi visit the flood-affected areas including their village on a power boat but the latter did not meet any of the affected people. Susmita Sahoo of Rashalpur village said her village has been waterlogged for the last four days yet no officer has taken stock of the situation or extended any relief to the affected. Pravakar Sahoo, a resident said officers and the revenue inspector has reached Baliapal bus terminal but are yet to visit the village. “We are surviving on dry food stored at home and we are worried about what would happen when the stock runs out,” Sahoo said.
District emergency officer Sai Krishna Jena said more than 39,000 people are affected in Bhograi, Baliapal, Jaleswar and Basta blocks of which 19,000 have already been evacuated. The district administration has opened at least 51 free kitchens with help of self-help groups in the affected villages. This apart, health and veterinary officials are on the job to prevent outbreak of waterborne diseases in the affected areas. Officials at the headquarters are monitoring relief operations round-the-clock, he said.
The district administration had directed the revenue inspectors and other officials to assess crop and property damage after water recedes from the low-lying areas of the blocks. As per official reports, the water level of Subarnarekha river stands at 10.61 metre at Rajghat against its danger level of 10.36 metre.