Wounds of deluge open up

MAUDAPUR(BHADRAK):  First, their sons deserted them. Now, the flood has rendered them homeless. Having lost both home and hearth to the Baitarani floods, the old couple Rushi Sethi and Basanti Sethi of Maudapur in Dhamnagar block have been reduced to penury.Ninety-year-old Rushi and 82-year-old Basanti were staying in a two-room thatched house after their sons separated from them a couple of years back. They were running a small pan shop from one room. “The flood has destroyed our home and source of income. The swirling water swept away our hard-earned Rs. 5,000 which I had kept aside to purchase items for the shop and some utensils,” said Rushi.The couple is now living at the mercy of the people who come to visit the flood-ravaged village and donate clothes and food items. Showing the rotten rice in an earthen pot, Basanti said they had stocked 30 kg of BPL rice which would have lasted an entire month.     “Flood water has destroyed everything. We fear to enter the collapsed house infested with snakes. With one square of meal still a dream for us, we are desperate for a polythene sheet to rebuild our house,” she said.The old couple has taken shelter in a nearby school. Though they have got rice from the relief officials, it is of no use to them as they do not have any option and arrangements for cooking.   Similar is the situation with most of the villagers of Maudapur. The village with a population of nearly 600 is dominated by scheduled castes. While some depend on agriculture, the rest work as daily wagers to eke out a living. Though Baju Sethi (60) and his family members managed to save their lives, they could not save the paddy stored in the Amara (paddy storage place) in their thatched house. “Nearly 10 quintals of paddy has been damaged, besides a pump set,” he said.Hrudananda Behera of nearby Palasahi, however, is only too happy to see his wife alive. A wall of his house collapsed a few seconds after he left for a safer place along with his children. “My wife was trying to take out money and ornaments from the box when the wall collapsed. She escaped with a fractured hand,” he said. While the administration claimed that  relief and polythene sheets are being distributed if need be, flood victims in Dhamnagar, Bhandaripokhari, Tihidi and Chandabali blocks in the district are yet to receive any relief or polythene even eight days after the deluge.