A truck washed away on the Pipili-Konark highway by the Bhargavi in Puri district on Wednesday. (PTI)

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 24: Flood victims today blocked highways alleging negligence in relief even as the government decided to demand more central funds and buy rice from the open market.

Reports of hungry flood-hit people resorting to road blockades were received from several places across the state.

Villagers blocked an express highway connecting Paradip and Daitari alleging negligence by the government. Similar road blockades were staged in Jagatsinghpur where the agitated people resorted to stone pelting at relief workers.

Desperate for relief after days of being marooned without food and shelter, villagers in Nuagaon locked the block office accusing the administrative discrimination in relief supply. With their miseries deepening by the day, frustrated people hit out at relief distribution teams. Clashes were reported from Kendrapada and Puri, too.

To meet the requirement for relief distribution, the government today decided to purchase rice from open market. Besides, 600 tonnes of polythene sheets would be procured from various places across the country, as lakhs of homeless people are taking shelter under open sky.

As scarcity of cattle feed hit flood-hit areas, it was also decided at the meeting — chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik — that the state-owned Orissa Co-operative Milk Producers Federation would provide 200 tonnes of cattle feed.

Disaster management secretary G.V.V. Sharma said more than 39.12 lakh people in 5,722 villages and 139 urban wards in 18 districts had been affected by the flood.

The official toll has gone up to 48. Cuttack district reported the highest number of casualties (11), followed by Puri (eight) and Jajpur and Kendrapara (five each).

Besides, four persons were reported missing in Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur and Rayagada districts, sources said.

Naveen said the interim central assistance of Rs 500 crore was not suffice. “Our demand is much more,” he said.