--- ‘Cyclone, floods washed away
all the happiness’
At first we reached Nalabanta
village near Aska town. The village, which is 37km from here and famous for
manufacturing of firecrackers, had been severely hit by the cyclonic storm and
the resultant floods. When we visited the market here, we didn’t find crowds
like previous years. There are five licensed and over 60 unlicensed
manufacturers of firecrackers who do brisk business of around Rs 1 crore every
year; but this year, their story has been totally different due to the
inclement weather.
Asked about the thin crowd and
lean business, firecracker seller Gopal Patra said, “The manufacturers’ houses
were damaged as floodwaters from Badanadi and Rushikulya gushed into them.
Water The disaster has also washed away people’s livelihoods here.”
Normally, firecrackers take five
to seven days’ time after manufacturing to get ready for Diwali, but the
floodwater receded just six days before the festival, as a result the
manufacturers could not get time for making firecrackers. “Crackers made of
palm leaves have market demand, but this year we could not get enough palm
leaves as the palm trees were uprooted in the devastation,” he added.
“Also police watered the festive
spirit by seizing firecrackers worth over Rs 4 lakh and confiscating 11 firms
before the festival,” lamented another trader. “Post-disaster, the poor
villagers’ hope of doing some business was dashed,” he added.
While interacting, a youth said
that the festival lost its charm due to the back-to-back tragedies. “Hence, the
firecracker market has been rendered lackluster,” he added.
Then, we visited New Podampetta
under Rambha police limit. The fishermen’s village, 44 km from Brahmapur and
situated near the Bay of Bengal, was completely
devastated in Phailin. Out of the total 110 houses here, 106 were fully damaged
in the cyclone.
As electricity was yet to be
restored in these areas, it was near pitched dark everywhere. When we entered
the hamlet, we neither noticed bursting of firecrackers nor lighting of candles
or diyas. The festival of light had become insignificant for the devastated
villages.
We felt the lull in the village.
While crossing a street, we found a lit diya near a partially-damaged hutment
with idols of Gods and Goddesses inside it. We were hailed by a gloomy person
sitting in front of the house. He was B Sathiga, a young man, who has lost his
house, boat and fishing net in the cyclone. When asked about Diwali, he took a
short pause and said, “What happiness we have to celebrate the festival?”
“Now we are going through a tough time with
dependence on relief rice and dry foods. In this situation, festival does not
hold any significance for us,” said a distressed Sathiga.
He then took us to the middle of
the village where a few villagers were sitting and discussing among themselves
about repairing of boats and nets. We discussed with them the issues related to
relief, restoration and compensation. Meddling with the interaction, an old man
came to us, shared his ordeals with us and threw many queries. The cyclone
devastated his house and the ensuing rain collapsed it. “After the heavy rains,
winter has started inflicting the pain. As an old man I can’t bear the brunt of
the chilled air during night. My grand children and children are also
struggling with the cold weather as we have no proper house to live comfortably,”
he said.
Echoing similar problem, another
villager B Bunga said that he has a neonatal in his home and they also face the
difficulty as the winter has already set in.
We were also thrown queries from
villagers regarding restoration of power supply to the villages and help from
the Government to build their houses again, to which we didn’t have any
satisfactory answers.
Published on November 6, 2013 in The Pioneer
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