There is a regular race by women workers to reach the water tankers, since there is no coordination between relief work timing and tankers' arrival time. In the high-tech state of Andhra Pradesh, the lot of cotton farmers is dismal. Suicides, migration, selling of wives and children by cotton farmers are no longer news. But what surprises one is the flourishing trade carried on by money-lenders in the cotton belt, in spite of all the promises made by Chandrababu Naidu about the elimination of money lenders who have been playing havoc with the life of farmers for centuries. The situation in Orissa is going from bad to worse.
Drinking water is the main problem in several districts.
As during the cyclone, when both the Congress ministers and the bureaucrats bungled, even though huge quantities of aid material were available, the Patnaik government owes a duty to the people to see that relief reaches the people on time. Copies of the report were sent to both the central ministries concerned and the chief secretaries of states. Insensitive ministries, irresponsible bureaucrats and euphoric state governments have all ignored the alarm bells. Even in this late hour, if they wake up and do their work for a change, people can still be saved. Instead of trying cookie-cutter solutions, ministers and bureaucrats should move out of their ivory towers and work with the people.