- BJD Delegation Visits Flood-Affected Areas, Assesses Ground Situation and Meets Ganjam Collector to Discuss Flood Situation
- Government’s insensitivity towards the people is clearly evident
- Forget cooked meals, even dry food and safe drinking water have not reached people in all affected areas
- Irresponsible flood management by the Water Resources Department is responsible for this devastation
Bhubaneswar, 31/10/2026:The flood situation in Ganjam has arisen due to administrative failures and mismanagement by the BJP Government. The devastating floods have caused extensive damage across Ganjam district. On the directions of the Leader of Opposition and BJD President, Shri Naveen Patnaik, a BJD delegation led by the Chief Whip of the Opposition, Smt. PramilaMallik, visited Ganjam district today. The delegation visited the flood-affected areas of Chikiti, Hinjili, Sheragada, Patrapur, Aska and Purushottampur to assess the ground situation and subsequently met the Ganjam District Collector to discuss the prevailing flood situation.
The BJD strongly condemned the BJP Government’s incompetence in managing the flood situation. Despite advance warnings issued by the India Meteorological Department regarding heavy rainfall, the State Government completely failed to make the necessary preparations to tackle the cyclone and floods in Ganjam district. Due to the Government’s casual and negligent attitude, the people of Ganjam are suffering immensely today. Had the Government taken preventive measures in advance, such a situation could have been avoided. In particular, priority should have been given to reservoir management, proper drainage arrangements and the repair of vulnerable river embankments.
Negligence and administrative failures on the part of the State Government and the Water Resources Department have resulted in floods in Ganjam and Gajapatidistricts, creating an extremely distressing situation. People are facing unprecedented hardships. As a consequence, the flood-affected areas have been pushed back by nearly 30 years in terms of development. During the tenure of former Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik, Odisha earned international recognition for its disaster management capabilities. Odisha’s disaster management model was appreciated across the world and adopted by several countries for their own disaster management practices. However, due to the lack of foresight, the present State Government has completely failed to anticipate potential risks and take timely preventive measures.
Illegal sand mining by sand mafias has weakened several river embankments, making them vulnerable and dangerous. There has also been widespread negligence in the construction and maintenance of river embankments. Before opening the gates of reservoirs, advance information was not provided to the downstream Gram Panchayats. As a result, people did not get adequate warning or an opportunity to move to safer locations. The lack of preparedness, coordination and proper planning on the part of the State Government to tackle the disaster is clearly evident.
Instead of providing assistance to flood-affected people, the State Government remains busy with its own publicity and propaganda. Thousands of hectares of agricultural land have been damaged due to the floods. Relief materials have not reached several flood-affected families. The State Government must expedite arrangements to ensure the supply of cooked food, safe drinking water, essential commodities and relief materials to people in the affected areas. A comprehensive assessment of post-flood damages must be undertaken, and adequate compensation must be provided to affected families.The Government must immediately undertake the repair and strengthening of vulnerable river embankments and initiate stringent legal action against illegal sand mining. If the State Government continues to neglect the needs of flood-affected people, the BJD will strongly oppose such insensitivity and negligence.
The BJD delegation comprised Smt. Usha Devi, Shri Pratap Jena, Smt. TukuniSahu, Shri Chandrasekhar Sahu, Shri Bikram Kumar Panda, Dr. Ramesh Chandra Chyaupatnaik, Shri Chinmay Kumar Sahu, Shri BhruguBuxipatra, Smt. RanjitaSahu, Shri Srirup Deb, Shri Purnachandra Swain, Shri SrikantaSahu, Smt. Latika Pradhan, Shri SubasBehera, Smt. Manjula Swain, Smt. Nandini Devi, Smt. SuryamaniBaidya, Shri DebanandaMohapatra and Shri Tumbanath Panda, among others.
