Ganjam landslide search called off with six missing, as Naveen Patnaik writes to Majhi

The administration has called off the search at Gidipabali, the Odisha village buried by a landslide on October 28, after the families of the six people still missing asked in writing for the digging to stop. Seven bodies were recovered over the course of the operation, which ended on Tuesday, November 10.

On the same day, Leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik wrote to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi calling the floods in neighbouring Ganjam district a “manmade crisis” and seeking accountability for how the state handled the cyclone warning, the release of dam water and the rescue that followed.

Why the search ended

Gidipabali, in Baibali panchayat of Bhanjanagar block, lies on the Ganjam-Kandhamal border. The hillside came down at about 3 am on October 28, when Cyclone Arnab’s rain was falling and most residents were asleep. A large-scale search began on October 31, once the rain eased, with the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, the District Voluntary Force and the fire services on the hill.

Two bodies were found first and five more later, which as of our last report on November 5 took the toll to seven. Nothing has been found since. The families of the six missing told the administration that their homes and relatives are probably buried under about 30 feet of rock and debris, according to people familiar with the matter, and asked it to end the search. About 100 personnel had worked on the site, with boulders as big as houses and no road for heavy machinery to reach the village.

The families also asked for help to rebuild. They said they cannot stay in temporary shelters for long and want land for relocation. Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari had said earlier that the government would build houses and rehabilitate the village’s residents, a pledge we reported in our earlier story. No new plan for the six missing or for relocation had been announced by Tuesday evening.

What Patnaik wrote

Patnaik toured flooded parts of Ganjam on November 7, visiting Hinjili, Sheragada, Aska and Sorada, and met farmers, women and small traders. His letter to the chief minister says: “I was pained to see the acute distress of the people of Ganjam.”

He made four main charges:

• The India Meteorological Department gave its earliest warning on October 23, and dam levels should have been watched round the clock and water released before the heavy rain.
• The Water Resources Department instead released water after the cyclonic rain had begun, worsening the flood, and residents were not warned properly before the gates opened.
• The state’s rain advisory came late, and rescue and relief were delayed, leaving people stranded for days without food and drinking water.
• The government had admitted a lack of preparedness.

“This gross negligence and manmade crisis raises serious issues of accountability,” the letter says. “Just paying lip service will not work.”

The demands

Patnaik asked for immediate relief and rehabilitation, timely compensation for all affected people without discrimination, and strict action against those responsible for the dam-water decisions. He also asked for a whole-of-government effort to win back the confidence of farmers, women, youth and small traders. During the tour he collected several representations from residents and sent them to the Special Relief Commissioner.

He also said the community-based disaster management system built under the previous Biju Janata Dal government, which involved sarpanches, panchayati raj members and Mission Shakti groups and earned international recognition, had been weakened. He blamed the present government’s neglect of sarpanches and the near closure of Mission Shakti, and cited earlier handling of calamities in Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore. The progress of the BJD’s 24 years in office, he wrote, should not be undone in 24 months of BJP rule.

If the government does not act, Patnaik warned, the BJD will take up the people’s cause “from Palli to Delhi”, meaning from the village to the capital.

The government’s position

We did not find a direct reply from Majhi or the state government to the letter. The state has so far pointed to the scale of the rainfall and to relief work under way. On November 5 Odisha asked the Centre for ₹2,526 crore in assistance for damage from Arnab and the floods in Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal, and a further ₹10,000 crore for long-term flood protection, as Special Relief Commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil told a visiting central team. The team is due to report within eight to ten days of its visit.

What happens next

The central team’s assessment, and the Centre’s decision on the ₹2,526 crore request, will show how much money reaches Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal for crops, roads and embankments. For Gidipabali, the open questions are where the surviving villagers will be resettled and what the administration will do for the families of the six missing. Whether the state answers Patnaik’s charge about the timing of the dam releases is the other open question, and the BJD has warned it will take the issue from the village to Delhi if the government does not act.