Bhubaneswar, Aug 26: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Sarat Patnaik on Friday demanded the state government to convene a meeting of leaders of all political parties and experts to find out a permanent solution to the flood.
Addressing newsmen Patnaik said over 10 lakh people in 15 districts were affected and nearly 20 lakh hectares of crop land submerged in the recent flood in which the farmers and sharecroppers have also suffered untold miseries.
He accused the BJD government for its complete failure to find a permanent solution to the flood situation in the state during its 23 years rule. During the last 23 years the government , he said, could not construct an embankment on river Subarnarekha. The government also did not think of repairing the river embankments before the flood and described the flood as “a government made”.
The OPCC President said 70 percent people of the state are farmers who largely depend on agriculture for their livelihood adding they suffered miserably and their economic condition badly hit in the flood due to the lack of foresight and vision of the BJD government.
He came down heavily on the state government for its failure to manage floods and distribute relief to the people affected by the flood. Party’s Flood Committee Chairman and former Minister Panchanan kanungo alleged that relief has not reached most of the people hit by flood and wherever reached it is too inadequate. The state government, he said, has neglected in providing security and relief to the people and held the government fully responsible for the flood.
Kanungo said the government should not try to escape its responsibility by passing the buck to others.
He said for the last over two decades the government did not bother to hold any meeting to review the possible flood situation and its impact in the state on various parameters. The flood could have been checked had the government taken some preventive steps, Kanungo said and demanded the government to pay a compensation of Rs one lakh per hectare to vegetable farmers, Rs 1 lakh to each fish farmer, polythene to each flood affected family, 4 to 5 kg fodder per cattle and cooked food for 5 days in the flood hit areas.
With UNI Inputs….
