Large-scale exodus from Fani-hit Odisha districts

A significant feature of Fani aftermath in Odisha is the large-scale exodus of residents from the cyclone-hit districts to those areas which had not been affected by the calamity.

The desertion of people has been witnessed mainly in two worst-affected districts of Puri and Khurda which includes the state capital Bhubaneswar. This phenomenon was not witnessed during the Super Cyclone, the last Fani-like disaster that had ripped through the coastal belt of the eastern state in 1999.

People left their homes and headed for their villages or houses of relatives in non-Fani hit districts primarily because of the administration’s failure to restore basic requirements like electricity despite the state government’s tall claims. Even a week after the cyclone struck the state on the morning of May 3, power still remains a distant dream for many affected people.

By Friday morning several areas in Bhubaneswar have not yet received power. Electricity supply has not been restored even in one per cent of the affected areas in the popular temple town of Puri where Fani had its landfall. May is the peak summer month in Odisha and with mercury crossing 40 degree Celsius in the majority of the places, it has become unbearable and torturous for the citizens to carry on with their lives. What has added to the woes of the people is extremely humid conditions in the entire coastal belt.

“I have already sent my wife and two children to my village mainly because of uncertainty over power resumption. Even if the administration restores electricity, it will take days for the restoration of quality power. The supply has been extremely erratic and irregular even in those areas where the power supply has been resumed.

"Life had become hell for my wife and kids. Therefore, I had no other option but to shift them to my village. I will bring them back only after a month or two,” said Mahendra Rath, a Bhubaneswar resident and executive of a private company who originally hails from Sambalpur district in the state.

“Power restoration work has been going on in the affected areas on war footing”, has been the administration’s repeated comment on the contentious issue. But the statement has failed to impress the suffering people. “Nobody believes the government anymore,” said Bhabani Nayak, another Bhubaneswar resident.

Many believe that the 1999 Super Cyclone had not seen the Fani aftermath like large-scale exodus mainly because the calamity had struck the state on October 31 when the weather condition was far better. It was not hot and humid as it is today because the winter was about to set in. Therefore, it had become easier for the residents to handle the woes like lack of electricity.

Interestingly, both Super Cyclone and Fani had hit the state on Friday.