Highways turn looting junctions

CHANDIKHOL Jajpur Dist, Nov 2: For the second day, hungry and homeless victims, angry at delayed relief, are looting block office godow...

CHANDIKHOL Jajpur Dist, Nov 2: For the second day, hungry and homeless victims, angry at delayed relief, are looting block office godowns and homes of their more lucky neighbours to stave off starvation.

Their homes blown away or destroyed, thousands have spilled over on to the roads which have become their homes until the water recedes and they can begin the arduous task of reconstruction.

A journey on the 40-km Cuttack-Chandikhol highway and the 80-km Chandikhol-Paradip road is risky for no one is likely to escape the wrath of angry villagers, their anger made fiercer by a slow administration.8220;Not a single grain has reached us. We are starving for the last four days. Our children have no food to eat,8221; says Narayan Mohapatra of village Hosnabad under the Badchana block of Jajpur district. Badchana and Dhanmandal blocks of Jajpur are the worst-affected.

State government vehicles and highway trucks are prime targets. Trucks carrying essential commodities are stopped by angry stopped by angryvillagers who have set up makeshift road blockades. Drivers are then hauled out for not giving in.

Even those on scooters, carrying their family members including children, have not been spared. The situation is worse at major junctions where people are beaten up even for not giving a lift to stranded villagers.

Gopinath Rout of Nuagaon village boasts of looting passersby and block office godowns. He justifies it by saying he and his family have not eaten anything for over 72 hours.

8220;After three days, I served maize powder to my five-year-old son. He complained of stomach cramps. Then I had to stop,8221; he says.

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Several block godowns in the district have been ransacked by the villagers. While authorities are helpless, police are reluctant to interfere. Under the guise of clearing the road and helping ease the traffic, criminals, including some local youths, have gone on the rampage. While several trucks are waylaid on the highway for refusing to provide food, buses are looted during the night.Passengers of a tourist bus from West Bengal were looted of Rs 15,000 on the Chandikhol-Cuttack highway on Monday evening.

8220;Don8217;t worry. We won8217;t harm you. You are from the press. Trucks, buses and Government vehicles are our targets,8221; says a youth Sadashiv Mahakud. The irony is that not many of them know where to keep the loot, their houses will remain under water for quite a while.