Senior journalist P. One of Sainath’s award-winning books was titled “Every body loves a good Drought”. Similarly, the flood picnic is going on in Odisha now. From Sundarpada on the outskirts of Smart City, there is no crowd in the flood affected areas of Cuttack, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri etc. From ministers, MLAs, officers, the representatives of Odia news channel have been drowned in the flood festival. When his friend opens the TV, only 24-hour news or Nonstop coverage is seen. In which everyone has forgotten the sorrows of the flood and the mistakes made in his fight despite the repeated floods. At such a time, the water resources minister of the state is not seen. And instead, the Special Relief Commissioner is showing his face on TV hour after hour. Statement after statement. How many gates of Hirakud were opened and how many were closed and to which places officers were sent and relief materials were sent and so on and so forth. While the leaders and officials of the ruling party are visiting from the air, the leaders of the opposition party have made efforts to reach the people on the roads. It is not that they are arriving empty handed, but who is holding team member and promoting the help of the government and who is sharing the assurance that they will report to the center and give money. No one is saying anything about why there cannot be a permanent solution to the floods. The departmental minister is silent, the secretary is busy giving information and the opposition party is not even asking the government about this. The Odisha media is also busy with the flood festival. Especially the news channels are busy sending their representatives to do 24-hour Live from the flood plain to the other side of the river. And some news channel editors are busy trying to get TRP by showing flood scenes and people’s misery at 10 pm. Not even a single journalist is asking the government to solve the flood and why the artificial flood could not be prevented.
The ruling party leaders are taking credit for distributing the relief and the opposition is busy uploading photos on social media after reaching the valley. Why are Odisha residents facing frequent floods? Why can’t Hirakud dam water management be addressed during rainy season? How many times has the Odisha government discussed with the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh in this regard? Don’t people have the right to know the reason for the flood in a smart city like Bhubaneswar? Shouldn’t the Odisha media above all ask these questions to the ministers and secretaries of the government? When the people of Odisha are suffering from frequent floods, if the government party takes pride in providing relief to the people, leaders, ministers, officers enjoy the time by crowding the flood areas and the media forgets its responsibility to ask questions and turns it into a business by showing pictures of floods, then floods will happen again and again. What’s wrong with calling it a festival or a picnic spot in Odisha? However, senior journalist P. Doesn’t Odisha government, opposition and media flood like Sainath’s book?
