Amroli takes on politicians

Vaghela, who wanted to visit the flood affected areas to assess the loss, could not even get down from his car to interact with people. Local residents chased his vehicle, banging on the bonnet and shouting, “Where were you when we were marooned, crying for help. Why have you come now?”.

Their anger seemed to be justified. The area is yet to be cleaned of the flood debris; disinfectants are conspicuous by their absence in the housing societies. Though Zila Panchayat member Ishwarbhai Patel and Kosad village sarpanch Arvindbhai Patel claimed that the entire area has been disinfected, residents had a different story to tell.

Mithilesh Aggrawal of Mahavir Society alleged that Zila Panchayat officials were not cooperating with residents. “When I approached them for disinfectants, they told me get the request in writing from each member of my housing society”, he told Express Newsline.

He added that though the main roads had been sprayed with disinfectants, nothing had been done in low-lying residential societies.

The residents of the Sarvodaya housing society had had to clean up the area themselves, Sanjay Salvi, a resident, said, adding, however, that they hadn’t been given any disinfectants.

Jeevanbhai of Raghuvir Society virtually broke down while narrating his experience. “For two days, my children were hungry, crying for food and water; I asked to the military personnel engaged in rescue work to arrange for food packets, but my prayer went unanswered.” He wasn’t the only one to complain of such nightmarish experiences.

For the residents of Amroli, District Collector R M Shah is the villain. They hold the administration responsible for not warning them well in advance. However, senior district officials claimed that a warning team had passed through the area on September 15, but that it went mostly unheeded because people weren’t ready to move to safer places.

Many residents of low-lying areas fled after locking their houses. As a result — including grain and clothes — rotted in the water, causing a stink to hang heavy over the entire area. D R Solanki, a social worker involved in relief work, said that if their owners did not return,“We’ll have to break open their houses and remove all that have rotten”.

Meanwhile, a number of social organisations from Bardoli, Palsana, Mandvi and Vyara have arrived with food-laden trucks for the affected. Health officials have taken blood samples to test for malaria.

Fifteen survey teams are also assessing loss of property for distribution of cash doles. Five teams of doctors and two teams of veterinary doctors are on job.

According to a senior district official, Rs 11 lakh will be distributed among flood affected people of Amroli.