Relief material being loaded onto a country boat for distribution in remote areas near Jajpur town on Tuesday. (AP)

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 27: Flood victims in the state are struggling to survive as relief comes few and far between.

Though the state exchequer is shelling out hefty amount to the Centre for using seven of its choppers in flood-relief operations, the facility seems to be inadequately utilised. This has resulted in the supply of less than necessary food material to the crisis zones.

Special relief commissioner Pradipta Mohapatra said six helicopters today made 16 sorties to the flood-hit zone. Considering that each helicopter can carry 600 dry food packets weighing around 2,000 kg, the helicopters dropped 32,000kg of relief today.

Each helicopter is capable of making five to six trips a day. Hence, six helicopters could have made 36 sorties carrying 72,000kg of food. But sources said the number of trips was getting reduced because the Bhubaneswar relief centre was unable to feed the helicopters dropping food packets owing to shortage of manpower and lack of coordination among officials organising the relief material.

Sources said seven helicopters had made 21 sorties yesterday. The supply of cooked food has been discontinued during the current phase of floods. Dry food packets, including 3kg of flattened rice and 500gm of jaggery, apart from candles and match boxes were being dropped now.A visit to the Biju Patnaik Airport hanger, where food packets were being loaded on the choppers, and the Nayapalli Kalyan Mandap, where food packets were being prepared, showed that things were in complete disarray. A catering contractor has been hired for the job, the supervision of the work has been left to middle-rung officials. At the airport, state government officials and labourers are more interested in flying on the choppers than distributing relief.

The government has failed to rope in nearly 46,000 volunteers of the National Cadets Crops (NCC), Red Cross and other organisations to help it at its moment of crisis.

Only a few labourers and jawans of the 120 Infantry Battalions are seen loading the materials on the choppers. “They can not match the spirit of the NCC and other volunteers,” said officials.

On being contacted, deputy director general, NCC, Orissa, B.K. Patnaik said, “The state government has not made any request to us.”

Nearly 25 lakh people in 3,459 villages and 12 urban local bodies have been affected by the floods while 1,332 villages remain completely marooned. The death toll has climbed to 27 and the flood situation is still grim in Rajnagar, Rajkanika and Aul in Kendrapara and Bari in Jajpur and Chandbali in Bhadrak district.

“The water has not yet receded because of the new moon. The situation will improve from tomorrow,” said revenue minister Surjya Naryan Patro.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, today visited the flood-affected areas of Sonepur and Sambalpur. His visit to Sonepur triggered resentment with many complaining that he did not visit the worst-affected areas. Later, he held a review meeting and asked the officials to continue with the community kitchens.

Bari block in Jajpur district remained cut off for the sixth consecutive day today with Baruan-Bari, Bari-Ratnagiri and Brahmabara-Bari roads still flooded.

“Five days have passed but relief is yet to reach us,” said Dibakar Jena of Kaipara village.

Senior bureaucrat Arabinda Padhee, who is camping at Bari, admitted there was a communication problem but said the administration was doing its best to reach out to the people. “As many as 40 boats have been pressed into service to provide relief to the people. We have also rescued some sick people and taken them to mobile hospitals,” said Padhee.

A four-member central team headed by Sunil Kumar Verma, chief engineer, ministry of road transport and highways, visited Jajpur’s flood-hit areas on Monday. The team made an aerial survey of the district and the collapsed bridge over river Budha which has resulted in district headquarter town being cut off from Bhubaneswar.

Binika resident Suman Pradhan, who gave birth to a baby girl at one of the relief centres, said she was disappointed that Naveen chose to ignore the area. She has named the girl Banya, which means flood in Oriya.