The Odisha government has appeared to have overcome the initial hiccups in delivering food to the cyclone-hit villages and slums in urban areas, especially in Puri district.
Five hundred and three kitchens are working full time, and the people are given 50 kg of rice from fair price shops, as promised by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The police have joined relief distribution, preparing food at Talabania in Puri.
Voluntary organisations, such as Spandan, Khalsa Aid and Maa Hingula Temple Trust, have been serving food in Puri and on the outskirts.
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“We have no shortage of food materials. At distribution points, there could be some instances of favouritism. This happens everywhere in the country. We will immediately send food materials wherever there is a shortage,” Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said.
As many as 14,889 packets of relief materials, including flattened rice, biscuits, candle and salt, have been delivered to Puri and 4,632 packets to Khordha.
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According to officials, the breakdown in the mobile phone connectivity had caused confusion in relief distribution from Puri; however, the distribution improved as the link was being restored.
With little access to food, the people had blocked roads in Puri town. Some slum-dwellers had alleged that they had not received any food since the cyclone hit the coast. There were reports of food materials having been snatched from trucks in Puri and Bhubaneswar. But officials attributed such incidents to the handiwork of criminals.
Taking suo motu cognizance of the report in The Hindu that the people were resorting to agitation for food, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday served notice on the Chief Secretary, asking him to redress their grievances.