It is nearly three weeks since the cyclonic storm Titli caused unprecedented devastation in Gajapati and parts of bordering  Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, yet, there are several villages which have not seen a single officer reaching out to them.

Six panchayats are inaccessible as there is no road connectivity while in 10 other panchayats nobody from the government side has visited till date the irate villagers.

Still worse is the fact that in almost every other village, people complained of relief being given to only those who have ration cards.  Rice, kerosene, and Rs 1000 have been given by the government but only to those who have ration cards.

Shockingly, this is at a time when relief material like polythene sheets and rice were distributed in some of the coastal Odisha districts like areas of Kendrapara which were not affected by Titli.

Drinking water and power-supply have not been fully restored, in fact, 30 per cent work is yet to be done, said reliable sources.

There are several hamlets on the foothills of Mahendragiri where people now want to shift to safer locations and want the government to resettle them. The landslide that killed 16 of them has led to such a demand.

Incidentally, Gajapati district is one of the ‘aspirational districts” which is directly monitored by central officers and the PM is supposedly briefed.

For the first time in the history of Gajapati that a cyclone of this magnitude had its landfall so close to the district and an unprepared administration failed to respond to the situation. The human casualty was 49 (as per government claims), while unofficially the number was 70.

The administration took more than 32 hours to realize that 16 tribals had been swept away on the day of the cyclone in the Gangabada, while in many other places, landslides and sudden surge in water-level led to many deaths.

Ten people are still “missing”, said a reliable source.

The state government, which had claimed on the evening of the October 11, that there was zero casualty during the cyclone, thanks to their pre-cyclone arrangements, had to practically  eat its words as the news of the  high number of death rates trickled down, District Collector Anupam Saha had very little explanation of the allegations that in the interior villages there was no cyclone warning.

“We had no news or information from any government official of the cyclone, had we been warned, we would have shifted people to safer places,” says Hadubandhu Karjee, who is an elected representative.

The Rayagada Block of Gajapati district bore the major brunt of the storm as it is geographically located very near to the Palasa Town of Andhra Pradesh where the cyclone made a landfall.

According to the statistics released by the administration, 33 per cent of the crop is lost,  1636 villages affected, and the estimate of the loss of property is more than Rs 1200 lakh.

In the aftermath, a cavalcade of Ministers and Officers have been visiting the district and renovation work is on with full swing.

While acknowledging the fact that the state government has shown a keen interest to meet the challenges of the cyclone, the big question is why there were so many causalities when a cyclone of a greater intensity like Phailin in 2013 was managed with the death toll being 27.

Gangabada GP of the Rayagada Block is one of the most backward blocks and there is no direct communication from the panchayat to the block.

The inhabitants of the Gangabada GP have been demanding a  road to the block headquarter since last three decades.

They had even boycotted the General Elections in 2009 and were assured of a road which never materialized.

According to Haribandhu Karjee, who is an ex Sarpanch the villagers have to travel 100 km via Mandasa in Andhra Pradesh and Garabandha to reach their own Block Headquarter. “Several Collectors have come here, only to assure us of a road which remains elusive and all the 16 lives could have been saved only if we had communication,” said Kumari Bhuyan, another ex Sarapanch.

Similarly, the village of Baraghara, located on the foothills of the historical Mahendragiri Hills, remains inaccessible largely due to a tussle between officers of the rural development department and the forest department over the construction of the PMSJY road.

“The state government and the district administration has suddenly woken up after the CM himself visited the Gangabada village and heard the complaints of the locals. We have been for many years saying that the only way to improve the pitiable conditions of the villagers is a road whose work is now on, thanks to the natural calamity,” said Bharat Paik, an ex MLA of the Assembly Segment.

The Titili Cyclone has seriously dented the image of the state government in Gajapati and despite the rehabilitation work going on the people are unable to forget the nightmare and trauma they had to face for more than a week, thanks to the lack of power and drinking water.

In rural Gajapati, electricity connectivity is yet to be restored while mobile phone towers do not function.

Realizing the mood of the people, the state government has declared a plethora of rehabilitation schemes including Rs 10 lakh ex gratia for the next of the kin of the dead victims. “Officials are camping here in large numbers and trying their best to refurbish the image of the State Government which has taken a beating as the administration was napping and unprepared,” quoted Purna Ch Mohapatra, an ex employee.