Flood washes away all hopes

KANTIKA: With plans to marry off his elder daughter by the year-end, he had stocked household articles, utensils and ornaments in his house. The flood in the Baitarani and its tributaries, however, washed away his hopes. With the house damaged and all belongings swept away, Nityananda Sethi (55) today is a shattered man.Nityananda and his six-member family left home on September 23 when flood water gushed into his village. On Thursday, he returned only to see the trail of destruction that the flood left behind.“All my belongings have been damaged and all that I had saved for my daughter’s wedding has been washed away. Even the stocked grains have been destroyed,” he said. With no agricultural land, Nityananda works as a daily wager for livelihood.“We did not even have time to lock our houses or shift our belongings as the flood water gushed suddenly,” said Gouranga Sethi, Nityananda’s neighbour.Like that of Nityananda and Gouranga, over 50 houses in Kantika, a village inhabited mostly by daily wagers in Dhamnagar block, have been battered by the recent flood. The village has around 150 families, most of them Scheduled Caste, and a majority daily labourers. The flood has, however, broken their backbone.Describing the horror, Taramani Sethi (50) of Mahalsahi said at around 8.30 pm people saw flood water entering the village with force. The women and children took shelter on the road leaving behind the male members to look after the belongings at home. “But after an hour when there was five to six feet of water in the village, all of them took shelter in the nearby school,” said Taramani.The people alleged no official has visited their village so far. “We were provided only 3 kg rice on Wednesday. What will we do with it when we do not even have fuel to cook,” said Babaji Sethi, another villager. BDO Bidyadhar Palai refuted the charge. He said relief had been distributed as per the code.