Bhubaneswar: The BJP-led Odisha government has failed miserably in handling cyclone Dana, said the opposition Biju Janata Dal.
The focus of the state government was not on dealing with and managing the cyclone, rather it was more concerned about taking credits. While at least four persons lost their lives in the cyclone, the state government’s claim of zero casualty is laughable, said BJD spokesperson Dr.Lekhasri Samantsinghar while briefing the press here on Saturday. While three people died in Rajnagar and another person died in the Chief Minister’s own district Keonjhar.
While the government claims that about six lakh people have been evacuated to cyclone shelters, the veracity of this information is questionable. Even after the cyclone, the people have been evacuated in some areas. People have complained that the government has failed to provide food, water and other related facilities at the cyclone shelters, which has been reported in the media, the BJD spokesperson added.
The information about the cyclone was received about two weeks ago. Even though, the government had enough time to deal with the situation, it has failed measurably in managing the cyclone. It was predicted that the wind speed in the cyclone would be 100 to 120 km, but during the storm it was 60 to 80 km, which according to the experts is much but not worrying. Despite all this, the government is busy in taking credit. The government is anxious for a certificate from the Prime Minister and not from the people, she said.
The Biju Janata Dal is demanding that the state government should publish a White Paper on the cyclone Dana giving data on how many people have died and how many people have been shifted to shelters, and how many people have been kept in which shelters, she said.
During the Naveen Patnaik government, Odisha had a robust disaster management system. State-of-the-art machinery was made available and ODRAF was formed. In 2000, there were only 23 cyclone shelters in the state, most of which were unusable. Along with the renovation of these shelters, new and modern shelters have been constructed in the disaster-prone areas. By 2024, there were more than 900 shelters in the state, out of which only 450 shelters had state-of-the-art facilities. Similarly, sophisticated arrangements were made for forecasting well in advance of cyclone arrival. Apart from this, proper training was given to the workers for proper use of techniques and advanced equipments required for cyclone management. An SOP was set up for proper response and management of cyclone. The system, which was established during the Naveen Patnaik’s time, is capable of dealing with any major cyclone, which has been proven during many clones in the past. Odisha has been praised at the national and international levels for successfully managing the cyclone through this system. Despite such a strong system in place, the state BJP government failed to implement it for managing the cyclone. It is very unfortunate, the BJD spokesperson added.
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