‘Fani’ aftermath likely to influence bypoll outcome
Nearly two years have passed since the cyclonic storm Fani ravaged Odisha’s coastal Puri district. However, the wounds and injuries it inflicted are still explicitly visible on the landscape of the area. Many trees in villages still lie uprooted blocking walkways while other battered plants are yet to regain their green cover.
The degree of destruction the cyclone wrought can be seen in the pastoral villages. People are living in huts and shanties built with bits and pieces collected from the collapsed houses. The Union government had provided `95,000 ex-gratia for the affected people to rebuild their houses. However, discrepancy in identification of the affected persons and nepotism in selection of the beneficiaries has deprived many deserving people of the ex-gratia.
Scores of people are seen living perilously in shanties and sheds covered with torn and tattered polythene sheets and coconut leaves. And this “deliberate” deprivation is going to immensely influence the outcome of the Pipili Assembly bypolls.
“On April 26, 2019, my house was razed to the ground in the 250-km per hour gusty wind of Fani We are promised a lot many compensations, including `95,000 ex-gratia for rebuilding our houses and `5,000 for livelihood support. However, I have not received any support. I doubt some influential people deliberately omitted my name suspecting that I do not support them politically,” says Mir Sabir, a mini-truck driver, hailing from Nuagudi village.
Mr Sabir along with his wife and two grown-up children lives in a singleroom hut along with his pet dog and goats.
Mr Sabir’s wife Sanjida, while cooking lunch under a shed made of coconut-leaves, says with regret that her family did not receive a toilet as promised post the cyclone.
“Rich people of our village, including those who live in two-storey and three-storey buildings, have received both the house rebuilding assistance and grants for construction of toilets. However, our names did not figure in the list,” says Sanjida.