People flee Bhubaneswar

BHUBANESWAR: WITH patience running thin over the tardy progress of restoration of vital amenities and services like electricity and drinking water, the Capital City is faced with a flight of population.
As uncertainty prevails over the actual restoration of power supply to households despite the tall claims of the Government, people are leaving Bhubaneswar in large numbers for their native places or seeking refuge in hotels and lodgings at other cities and towns which were relatively less affected or unaffected by the cyclone.

This has led to an unprecedented rush at bus stands and railway station in the city. A bus ticketing agent at Rasulgarh said buses to Koraput, Jeypore, Rourkela, Sambalpur and many other districts that were spared by Fani are running packed everyday with people who want to move out of Bhubaneswar. Although the ticket fares have gone up considering the sudden rush of travellers, that is not a deterrent. “I decided to move out of Bhubaneswar because my office at Patia has been closed due to Fani damage and restoration works are not happening anytime soon”, said Sharmistha Mohanty, an IT employee, who shifted to her home town Sambalpur.

Shankar Sahu, an executive with a private firm, also moved out from the city with his family including wife and two children to his hometown Jajpur Road. “I will come back after leaving my family there. Though I can spend a major part of the day in office which has power and water through generator, my wife and kids were suffering at my rented home here in the terrible heat without electricity. They could not even sleep in the night”, he said, expressing the disappointment over the failure of the Government in taking effective measures to tackle the foreseeable effects of Fani.