27 dead, airdropping continues

BHUBANESWAR: With seven more deaths, the toll in the present phase of  floods rose to 27 on Tuesday. The seven deaths have been reported from Bhadrak, Keonjhar and Dhenkanal districts. Three persons of Bhadrak district drowned in flood water on Monday night while three more are reportedly missing in Angul, Kendrapara and Mayurbhanj districts. According to Jajpur district official sources, several people of Jajpur district are still missing. A team carrying relief material on Tuesday found a body floating but the deceased was not identified till the reports were filed.Meanwhile, the Government further intensified relief operations to the cut off areas through different modes of transport with the water receding fast in the swollen Brahmani and other river systems in northern Orissa. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday toured the flood affected areas of Sambalpur and Sonepur districts while the central team visited devastated areas of the two districts besides Bargarh.The Government, however, withdrew two choppers from air-dropping food items as most of the 588 marooned villages of Jajpur were accessible by boats, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Mohapatra said.Five choppers of the Indian Air Force made 16 sorties and food packets and other relief materials were dropped at Ali High School ground for the first time, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patro told mediapersons here on Tuesday.As delivery of relief materials to the marooned villages of Jajpur district from Ratnagiri through power-boats was no more possible due to receding water level, Indupur is now serving as the feeding centre for the district, he informed.The Minister reiterated that free kitchens will continue till normalcy was restored and people taking shelter in relief camps returned to their homes. About 1.75 lakh people are provided free cooked food from 542 kitchens in seven out of 10 flood-affected districts. As many areas in Jajpur and  Kendrapara districts are still marooned opening free kitchens is not possible, he added.Though the flood water has receded by two feet in Bari block of Jajpur district, which was cut off from rest of the state for the last five days, the situation remained grim. Encircled by flood water, a large number of people in the districts are taking shelter on roof-tops and are still confined to their house. The administration has not been able to provide relief to many people even after five days of the flood, admitted a senior officer in charge of relief operations.The situation continues to be grave in the low lying areas of Aul, Rajnagar,   Pattamundai and Rajkanika blocks in Kendrapara district. These blocks arelocated in the lower catchments of river Brahmani.“Though water level is not rising in Kendrapara district, the flood situation  remained grave as water discharge is very slow due to new moon day,” the Minister said adding that it will take another 36 to 48 hours for the water to recede.