Odisha BJP releases ‘charge sheet’ against BJD govt over flood

Bhubaneswar: The BJP blamed the BJD government on Thursday for the recent floods in Odisha, claiming that because of its indifference, carelessness, inefficiency, and failure to establish coordination within the administration, the state suffered an unprecedented tragedy.

"We already referred to the floods in the Mahanadi and other rivers as being caused by humans. Prithviraj Harichandan, state general secretary of the BJP, stated at a news conference in Bhubaneswar that the Odisha government failed to maintain effective coordination not just with Chhattisgarh but also with various authorities inside itself.

On the basis of the experiences and observations made by party leaders who visited several flood-affected areas of the state, he said that the state BJP had developed a "Chargesheet" against the administration outlining mismanagement of the flood crisis.

Samir Mohanty, the state BJP president, claimed that the failure of the state administration, which resulted in untold suffering for the people in flood-affected areas, will be brought to the attention of the general public as the "Chargesheet" was revealed.

Harichandan charged that the BJD administration failed to provide the afflicted people with adequate relief and assistance and instead blamed the state government for being unprepared and thus unable to manage the flood situation.

He stated the deluge caused loss of lives and property, and farmers were badly hit as they lost the year's output because the government failed to take preventive measures and timely action. He noted that floods in the Mahanadi river basin wreaked devastation in several districts.

The BJP leader continued, "The state government's incapacity to efficiently control water in the Hirakud dam was the cause of the devastating flood in the Mahanadi river system."

He added that the government had not recently held the crucial meetings with Chhattisgarh for proper management of water flow in the Mahanadi during the monsoon. According to him, this failure to coordinate with Chhattisgarh and violation of the "rule curve" in Hirakud dam water management caused the state to experience flooding.

He claimed that the "rule curve" for determining the amount of water storage in the Hirakud reservoir at various periods of the year was created back in 1962 and that the state government took no action to appropriately modify it during that time.

The government likewise disregarded the rule curve's regulations and never bothered to follow them. According to Harichandan, the sluice gates of the Hirakud dam were constantly being manipulated arbitrarily, posing a major threat to the residents of the Mahanadi river basin.

Furthermore, he asserted that there was a lack of coordination among various government bodies, which was plainly evident from the inconsistent claims made by the Minister of Water Resources and senior engineers and officers.

The BJP representative claimed that the state government disregarded the manual created in accordance with the policy guidelines, despite the fact that the National Disaster Mitigation Authority (NDMA) had created a flood management policy in 2008.

Harichandan claimed that the state government never took any action to improve and repair significant structures like river embankments and accused it of failing to ensure regular inspection of various river embankments.

Even days after the terrible floods, the government did not start relief efforts or offer aid to the residents in the impacted districts.

The BJP leader requested that the BJD government apologise to the state's citizens for its inability to control the flood crisis and adequately aid those affected.