Houses submerged, slum-dwellers block road demanding relief

OST Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Oct 25:

Nearly 200 residents of Ward- 17 in the  Bharatpur slum under Khandagiri police limits blocked the Sum Hospital-Studio square here on Friday evening demanding immediate relief to the affected people whose houses were submerged under 3-feet water due to heavy rains over the last four days.

Heavy rain has caused havoc in Bharatpur slums. As many as 10 mud houses collapsed this afternoon while a large number of  houses were waterlogged.

Following the incident, the locals had contacted the local councilor for help and relief to the affected  families. Angry over the indifference of the  local administration, the local people blocked the road connecting Sum Hospital and Studio square kfor over an hour.

“The councilor refused to extend help to us saying , it’s your problem and you have to find your own solution,” alleged the angry locals.

Meanwhile the Khandagiri police officials led by the IIC Sanjeev Sathpathy dispersed the protesters after assuring them that the fire-brigade personnel will drain out the water from the locality and the local administration would supply the relief materials.

Soudamini Sethy, the local councilor denied allegations that she had ignored people’s call for help and said efforts are on to provide relief material to the affected people.