BALASORE: Even as the flood waters receded in the northern parts of Balasore on Wednesday, the woes of the flood-hit people unfolded. About 300 persons from Basta, Baliapal and Jaleswar blocks who were evacuated are yet to return to their houses.Sources said 60 villages in three blocks of the district have been affected in the Subarnarekha and Jalaka floods, while paddy crop in 8,000 acres damaged. Both the rivers are now flowing below the danger mark. Though following the intervention of the State Government, two gates of Chandili dam in Jharkhand which caused floods in the Subarnarekha have been closed, people are scared as incessant rains continued to wreak havoc in the region on Wednesday.It is double whammy for the farmers in the region. After being badly affected last year in the untimely rains, they are the worst victims now. “After a delayed monsoon we had transplanted paddy saplings in our lands recently, but the flood water completely destroyed them,” said Baikuntah Behera, a farmer from Bhogarai. Thousands of farmers in the flood-hit districts are in trouble because many of them do not have funds to buy seeds to re-start the cultivation process. Collector Akhila Bihari Ota said some villagers had paddy crops in very initial stage. We will evaluate the complete loss and provide them assistance as per the relief code, he added.Revenue Minister Surya Narayan Patro has visited the flood-hit areas of Shekhbad in Jaleswar, Khalabadia, Manunagar in Bhogarai and Bishnupur in Baliapal block. He said that the State Government had sent a ` 919- crore proposal to the Centre for flood control measures in the Subarnarekha. “Once the project is approved, work will immediately start,” he said.He also directed the irrigation officials to initiate measures to strengthen riverbed from Gobarghata to Sekhsarai. Bhogarai MLA Ananta Das urged the Minister to build a cyclone shelter at Rasalpur which he promised to look into.
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