Kendrapara

Kendrapara, Oct 30 (LocalWire): Seaside villagers in Kendrapara district commemorated the 21st anniversary of the Super Cyclone on Thursday (Oct 29).

The cyclone, which hit the state on Oct 29, 1999, killed 387 people from the district.

Relatives of the people who perished in the cyclone performed oblations (pind daan), praying for peace for their souls.

Kalandi Hati, 60, from Tentulikandha village, lost five family members in the cyclone when tidal waves washed away the village.

“Even after 21 years, the specter of the cyclone haunts me. My wife, two sons, and two daughters died in the wrath of the cyclone,” he said.

Antarjami Swain, 48, of the same village, lost his father Arjun, wife Minati, and two minor daughters in the cyclone.

“My mother and I managed to cling to a coconut tree and survived the 12-feet-high tidal wave,” he recalls.

Officials on Thursday held a memorial ceremony and called for more awareness and preparedness for natural disasters.

Relatives of people who were killed by tidal waves gathered at the memorial towers at Mahakalapada to remember their beloved.

“The force of the tidal wave demolished the whole village of Sandakuda including our three-roomed thatched house.

I lost two sons, two daughters and my wife. All were washed away and I never found their bodies,” said Amar, blinking away tears.

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Kendrapara Oct 28 (LocalWire): : At least 120 people including 70 children fell ill on Monday after consuming “Prasad” at the Maa Durga temple at Pilachapatia village under Rajnagar police station in Kendrapara district.

Many people started vomiting and complained of severe lower abdominal pain and high fever after consuming the Prasad which was made of flattened rice (Chuda), milk and banana.

The people were admitted to the Primary Health Center at Dangamal and the Community Health Center at Rajnagar. Their condition is said to be stable.

“It was a case of food poisoning. A medical team was rushed from Rajnagar and the hospital at Dangamal to the village Pilachapatia to treat the persons,” said Dr. Rashmiranjan Mohanty, the Medical Officer of Rajnagar.

“The administration and health department are taking the issue seriously and the investigation is on to find the root cause of the food poisoning,” said Mandardhar Mahalik, the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Rajnagar.

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Kendrapara, Oct 21 (LocalWire): Incessant rains due to back-to-back low pressure systems have put a halt on the livelihood of the fishermen of the coastal district of Kendrapara.

“There have been three back-to-back low pressure systems within the last month.

We are waiting for the good weather to return before venturing into the sea,” said Ashok Mandal of the fishing village Kharinashi.

“The COVID-19 restrictions coupled with unpredictable weather conditions have added to the woes of fishermen.

The state government should provide diesel subsidies to the fishermen to mitigate their sorry plight.

Many fishermen cannot afford to go out to sea anymore because of high fuel prices, while fish prices remain the same,” said Tusharkant Sardar, the president of the district unit of Odisha Traditional Fish Workers Union. (OTFWU) .

Large numbers of marine fishermen of the state ventured into the sea for fishing on 15th June after the 60 day long “Fishing Ban” in effect from 15th April to 14th June was finally lifted.

The ban is imposed every year to facilitate an increase in the fish population through natural breeding.

We have managed only 30-40 days of fishing between then and now, said the fishermen.

“Authorities warn fishermen against venturing into the sea during bad weather periods. But some fishermen slyly venture for fishing, risking their lives as they hope for a good catch because of the abundant monsoon rainfall.

We have recently organized awareness camps among the fishermen in the fishing villages in both the districts and tried to convince them not to fish during inclement weather.

The fisheries department will take action against the fishermen who venture into the sea ignoring adverse weather warnings,” said Manas Ranjan Sahoo, the Additional Director of Fisheries (Marine) department, Kujang.

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Kendrapara, Oct 18 (LocalWire): The Bhitarkanika National Park has been reopened to tourists from today, officials said.

The national park, known as India’s second largest mangrove forest after the Sundarbans in West Bengal, is a major tourist attraction in the state.

500 tourists per day will be allowed to visit the national park, for which people can purchase tickets from the authorized website, or physically from the counters.

The park had been closed for visitors from May 1 to July 31, during the mating and nesting seasons of the saltwater crocodiles.

However, the closure was extended up to October 18 due to COVID-19.

“The park was partially reopened on Oct 1 for visitors who booked a stay at night in the Dangamal Nature Camp within the park,” said Bikash Ranjan Dash, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the park.

Visitors will have to maintain and follow COVID-19 norms, such as maintaining social distancing and using masks.

An adequate number of guards have been deployed inside the forest to enforce the regulations, he added.

Sanitisers have been placed at several places in the forest.

We renovated guest houses, roads and other infrastructures recently in the park.

Large numbers of tourists from West Bengal and other states visit Bhitarkanika during the Puja holiday, added the forest officer.

Eco- tourism in Bhitarkanika is a big employment generator and has a multiplier impact on the economy as it is a major contributor to employment creation particularly for women and youths, fishermen, boat men and others.

It can lead to the reduction of poverty and to the promotion of socio-economic development and work, added the forest officer.

We counted 103 crocodile nests during this year’s nesting season of the reptiles in the park and its nearby areas.

Around 3000 baby crocodiles were born in Bhitarkanika recently from the nests, he said.

Recognized as the biggest salt-water crocodile conservation success story in the country, relentless efforts put in by the authorities have witnessed the increase of crocodile in Bhitarkanika from just about 97 in 1974 to 1757 crocodiles as found in the census conducted in January 2020, added the forest officer.

Large numbers of local birds have already arrived in Bhitarkanika for nesting and the tourists can also enjoy the park ’s abundant bird life.

We have also allowed private tour and travel companies to establish their tents for the tourists in Bhitarkanika, added the forest officer.

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Kendrapara, Oct 16 (LocalWire): Noted freedom fighter and communist leader Arjun Behera of village Tikhiri in Kendrapara district’s biography “Arya Putra” revealed many unknown facts about the freedom movement, land rights movement, farmers movement and communist movement during the Raj period and after independence in the coastal districts of Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and other areas of the state.

The book was released in a function at Kendrapara on Thursday.

Behera participated in the Quit India movement in 1942. He also fought against the despot landlord of Kujang and Kanika of Kendrapara district during the British rule.

After Independence, Behera and others also fought around a decade against the landlord of Kujang and organized tenants to acquire the lands of the landlord. He joined the Communist Party of India in 1945 and was a member of CPI till his death at the age of 92 two years back.

Niranjan Mekap, the writer of the book vividly described the tyranny of British people during the Raj period in his book.

Arjun, along with Communist leader Lokanath Chaudhury, Ramakrushna Pati, Gangadhar Paikray and other leaders expanded the communist party base in certain pockets of the state.

The landlords of Kujang in a clear nexus with British were exploiting the tenants for which, under the leadership of Behera, large numbers of tenants fought against the Britishers and landlords.

The author of the biography mentioned that Communist Party of India was the main opposition party in 1952 in the parliament.

During the rule of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, the CPI occupied a political space disproportionate to its electoral strength, despite a vertical split in 1964.

The Left continued to expand their space till 2005. But the left movement started declining later due to many reasons.

“The history of the freedom and left movement in Odisha will remain incomplete without the mention of the role of Arjun Behera,” said Nandakishor Parida, the former principal of Kendrapada college.

Noted writer Baishab Charan Samal, Dr Debendra Nath Behera, former principal of Kendrapada college Ajay Samal and others spoke on the occasion.

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Kendrapara, Oct 13 (LocalWire): The Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) along with the district administration and other government and non-government agencies conducted a mock tsunami drill on Tuesday in all the 328 tsunami prone coastal villages of the six coastal districts of Odisha to create awareness among the public on tsunami.

“The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS) of Hyderabad sent us a mock tsunami warning message at 9.30 AM on Tuesday and we immediately alerted all the coastal districts through email, SMS and phone thrice at 9.30, 9.45 and 10 AM.

After getting the messages from us, the district administrations of all the coastal districts also alerted all the 328 Tsunami prone villages BDOs, Tahsildars, Indian Navy, Coast Guard, fishery officials, port officials, fishermen, locals, Panchayat body members, NGOs, social workers and others.

Due to COVID-19, we did not organize mock rescue operations in the tsunami prone villages but communicated the same to them,” said Bholanath Mishra, the General Manager of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).

“The mock drill increased preparedness, evaluated response capabilities and improved coordination among all the government and non-government agencies,” added Mishra.

The government built 122 Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) towers three years ago, at the seaside villages of the state to provide cyclone and tsunami warning to the villagers of the coastal pockets.

All the towers have been fitted with sirens and all the sirens went off simultaneously from all the towers on Tuesday during the mock drill.

The sound from the towers could be heard in localities up to a radius of 1.5 km. EWD towers will also enable authorities to alert people in smaller pockets, depending on the severity of the disaster, added Mishra.

“11 years ago, OSDMA had identified 328 villages situated within 1.5 km of the coastline in six coastal districts.

64 sea-side villages of Kendrapada district, 28 coastal villages of Jagatsinghpur district, 88 villages of Puri and 44 villages of Ganjam district were identified as prone to tsunami.

Similarly 63 villages of Balasore district were also identified as tsunami-prone, 41 villages in neighbouring Bhadrak district were enlisted as vulnerable to tsunami within 1.5 kilometers from the sea.

We have earlier trained the coastal communities how to react when tsunami warnings are issued,” added Mishra.

The mock drill aims to evaluate the system’s operational capacity, the efficiency of communications among the different concerned actors, added the official.

It may be recalled that India, along with 20 Indian Ocean nations participated in a major Indian Ocean-wide mock tsunami drill on October 12, 2011 aimed at testing the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS).

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Kendrapara, Oct 13 (LocalWire): Prices of the mouth-watering hilsa fish nosedived in the coastal district of Kendrapara as fishermen have netted huge quantities of the fish due to good rain in the past few days.

Hilsa is a popular fish species, one of the most sought-after, available mostly during the monsoon season.

The fish markets of Kendrapara, Marsaghai, Rajnagar, Pattamundai and other places are teeming with hilsa as the fishermen have had a good catch of fish in the past few days.

“The rate of hilsa was Rs. 800 per kg last week.

This week I am selling it for Rs. 400-500 only,” said Jagannath Behera, a fish seller of Mahakalapada.

“Due to good rain for the last few days, hilsa fish came in large numbers near the shore in search of saline water.

Thus the fishermen were able to catch much fish,” said Tusharkanta Sardar, the president of the district unit of Odisha Traditional Fish Workers Union (OTFWU).

Hilsa’s peculiar habitat makes it impossible to breed the fish artificially through aquaculture, unlike others.

The adult hilsa swims several kilometers upstream to freshwater from the sea for spawning and returns to saline water.

The eggs hatch in freshwater and the sub-adult hilsa swims back downstream into the sea through the river mouths of Mahanadi and other rivers, during the rainy season, said Basant Dash the Deputy Director (Marine) Fisheries Department.

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Kendrapara, Oct 10 (LocalWire): The state government has launched a boat ambulance service for the convenience of the remote riverside villagers within Bhitarkanika National Park to provide medical help in case of emergency.

Rajnagar MLA Dhruba Charan Sahoo inaugurated the boat ambulance service at the riverside village Gupti on Friday.

“Boat ambulance will operate as an integral part of 108 Emergency Response Service.

It will speedily reach the riverside villages of Gupti, Iswarapur, Junusnagar, Rangani, Kuthighat, Keruapala, Baghamari, Talachua, Kanhupur, Magarakandha and other villages within the park.

Around 50,000 villagers will be benefited through the boat ambulance service.

The health department has procured the boats with the necessary medical equipment.

A large number of riverside villagers depend on passenger boats, which are not available during the night for which boat ambulance service will help them in medical emergencies, said the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO), Dr. Anita Patnaik.

“The healthcare system in the remote coastal pockets of Bhitarkanika is falling like ninepins due to shortage of medical personnel, poor transport facilities and infrastructural inadequacies as a result of which a large number of people are forced to seek immediate medical help from quacks that puts them at further risk.

The distance and lack of transportation from the remote villages often prevents pregnant women from reaching the health centers, particularly in instances of sudden onset of labour.

We hope that the boat ambulance service will help the poor people get medical help at anytime,” said Jagabandhu Nayak the former chairman of Rajnagar block.

Pregnant women and newborn children in the remote riverside villages are deprived of basic health care.

Each year, many villagers within the park die due to snake bite without getting proper medical facilities as the mangrove forest of Bhitarkanika is the abode of many snakes.

Now we hope that the boat ambulance service will help save the lives of pregnant women and newborn children and many people from snake bite, said Hemant Rout the secretary of Gahiramatha Marine Turtle and Mangrove Conservation Society (GMTMCS) of Bhitarkanika.

It may be mentioned that last year the state government had for the first time launched boat ambulance service in the remote villages of Mahakalapada block in the district.

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Kendrapara, Oct 8 (LocalWire): Nearly one lakh villagers of Kendrapara district are facing communication problems due to the sub-standard 24-kilometer long stretch of road from Pattamundai to Rajnagar.

“The condition of roads is so deplorable that it takes long hours to reach from one village to another village.

Stagnant water and potholes on the roads are making it tough for motorists to drive,” said Jagannath Acharya of Nimapur village.

“Our repeated pleas to the panchayat bodies and other officials have not evoked a response.

The problem goes much further than mere inconvenience,” said Ranjit Singh of Chandannagar village.

“The irrigation department had last year repaired the road at the cost of 14 crores. However, the quality of work is so bad that due to the incessant downpour, the potholes have again opened up,” said Narayan Das of Srirampur.

Many locals expressed dismay over the bad condition of roads and also sought proper repair of the roads.

They also sought action against officials for allegedly committing fraud and carrying out sub standard constructions on the road in the recent past.

Bus owners have also stopped running buses on this road since last year due to bad condition of the road as a result locals are facing a lot of problems.

“We are running our buses on another route by avoiding this bad road,” said Parikhita Behera, a bus driver of Pattamundai.

Each day large numbers of tourists use the road from Pattamundai to Rajnagar to reach Bhitarkanika National Park.

Due to bad roads, many tourists face a lot of problems, said Maheswar Das, a tour operator of Rajnagar.

When contacted, the Assistant Engineer of Public Works Department (PWD) Prakash Kumar Dash of Pattamundai said “Last year the irrigation department had repaired the road.

Now, our department will renovate the road after getting funds from the World Bank. We have already decided to include the repair work of this road in a World Bank project.”

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