As flood waters recede,Orissa villagers count their losses

Hours later,when the river — and she — had calmed down,she tried to get to her house. There was only a heap of mud and straw floating on water there.

A little away from where Safran’s house once stood is what looks like a dungeon of slush and silt. This used to be a plush Punjab National Bank branch once. Today,the computers,dot matrix printers,bundles of documents,and the strong room,buried under slush and slit,stink.

Six days after that harrowing night,as the flood water recedes,the picture of devastation is becoming clearer. The flood has singed everyone,rich and poor. “I am nothing more than a beggar,” wails Safran.

At the bank,Niranjan Jogania,the president of Orissa chapter of All India Bank Officers Confederation,scratches his head as he estimates the loss.

“I have never seen such devastation,” says Jogania,who has arrived from Bhubaneswar to take stock of the losses. “The bank will take more than a month to get working again. Look at the strong room. The water was so forceful that it threw a massive iron box down like it was a matchbox. Our strong rooms are fire-proof,but they have no answer to the water.” The flood-filled ATM machine next to the bank stands a witness to the devastation.

The BSNL C-DOT telephone exchange at Gop,which has a capacity of 1000 lines,bore the brunt of the flood. The SDO of the exchange,Pramod Kumar Das,throws up his hands in despair as he goes around the exchange. SMPS power set-up,the broadband DSLM,a 32 KVA generator and equipments worth Rs 15 crore has been reduced to a heap of scrap.

“When the water rushed through,there was a boy of our department inside the exchange. He could barely escape as water from the river ripped through the electronic circuits. We have to throw away each and every item and get all of them replaced to get the exchange running,” says Das.

Elsewhere in Gop,villagers are counting their losses,which,they believe,will hardly be compensated by the state.

Kunjabihari Bhoi of Kushupur Harijan,and his family of 13,has taken shelter on a neighbour’s rooftop,looking down at his flattened house.

Betel-leaf trader Hidayat Mohammad and his brother Inayat Mohammad are not sure if they can recover their losses even in 30 years. “I have lost so much,” says Hidayat.

Meanwhile,Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed his officials to assess and enumerate the damage within 10 days. “All payments in the case of house building assistance shall be made in shape of account payee cheques and should be completed by October 5,” the CM ordered.

The death toll from the floods rose to 26 on Friday.