Cyclone Titli tests Naveen administration

Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, whose political career had taken a big leap after the 1999 Super Cyclone, a disaster that left nearly nine thousand people dead, now finds a similar disaster — cyclone Titli — brining his much claimed reputation as an efficient administrator to trial. Political analysts predict that the “mishandling” of the disaster ‘Titli’ might adversely affect the poll prospects of the ruling BJD in 2019 assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

Titli, the severe cyclone that hit Odisha coast on October 11, according to official figures, killed 57 persons while the Opposition parties claim nearly 100 lives perished in the disaster.

The natural calamity, according to independent analysts, has exposed the “hollowness” in the claim of CM Naveen Patnaik of giving “good governance” to people at the grassroots.

Most of the deaths were reported from Gajapati and Ganjam districts. As many as 39 persons died in Gajapati, 12 died in the CM’s home district of Ganjam.

Of the 39 people who died in Gajapati, - 18 persons belonged to Baragarh village under Rayagad block. They had taken shelter in a cave in the nearby hill as they feared their thatched houses cannot withstand high wind speed and heavy rains. They died as the cave collapsed due to landslide during the cyclone.

The incident of people taking shelter in a cave in the 21st century to ward themselves off against vagaries of the nature, according to the opposition parties, points to governance failure. Besides, lack of electricity and telephone connectivity at Baragarh that led to the people not getting real time information on the progress of the disaster is another lapse on the part of the state administration.

“The victims who died in the collapse of cave belonged to very poor families. They deserved to get pucca houses under Indira Awas Yajana or Odisha government’s own housing scheme Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana. But none of them was provided a pucca house. Had there been at least five such pucca houses, - the villagers could have taken shelter under them and saved their lives. Besides, had there been electricity or telephone connections, they would have got information on the progress of the disaster and accordingly could have taken precautionary measures,” said BJP vice president Samir Mohanty.

Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Niranjan Patnaik portrayed the deaths “as state government’s utter failure” in disaster management.

“When India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted heavy rains during the cyclone, the BJD government sat silent with complacency and claimed that it was fully prepared to effectively meet the disaster and achieve zero casualty. Proper information could not reach  to the people in interior pockets of South Odisha which led to loss of so many precious lives,” said Mr Patnaik.

The opposition BJP and Congress, in fact, have taken the destructions by the cyclone very seriously. Top leaders of both the parties have already visited Baragarh to meet the relatives of the cave collapse victims.

Senior BJP leader and Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan and OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik along with their party workers visited Gajapati and Ganjam districts and expressed solidarity with the affected people.

A day after the visit of opposition leaders to the cyclone-hit areas and following scathing attack by them, chief minister Naveen Patnaik visited the Ganjam and Gajapati districts and raised ex-gratia amounts from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh each for families of the deceased.

“The BJD had come to power in 2000 by telling people that the Congress government had failed in post reparation work after the 1999 Super Cyclone. Now, - what is this party doing? It could not save lives of people against the massive destruction wrought by Titli nor has its performance post the disaster been satisfactory. BJD will meet the same fate as we did in 2000,” said Congress leader Sarat Rout.