Homeless people take shelter in polythene tents in flood-affected villages and (above) people show damaged paddy plants to chief minister Naveen Patnaik during his visit to Ashram-Balikuda village on Tuesday. Telegraph pictures

Kendrapara, Sept. 21: Lapses made by the government in providing relief materials on time continue to plague flood-hit people in over a hundred villages in the Mahanadi deltaic region.

People here have been asking for polythene sheets to protect themselves from incessant rain. In spite of the government’s statistics that say rolls of polythene sheets have been doled out, a sizeable chunk of people, who lost their houses in Gagadpur-Mahakalpada-Marshaghai blocks, are still living without cover.

In Garadpur block, official statistics claim that 18,000 flood-affected families were given polythene sheets. But the ground reality is different. Most people in gram panchayats such as Patkura, Bedari, Padmapur have not received the covers.

“Polythene sheets have not reached an estimated 6,000 families. People are scurrying for cover, as there has been continuous rain for the past 24 hours,” said Nabaghan Nayak, former panchayat samity chairman.

For the people of Dasamouji, however, chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit yesterday was a blessing. “Officials and ruling party leaders swiftly stepped in to dole out rolls of polythene sheets on Monday night. Even those who had received polythene sheets already, got another one,” said Rasananda Nayak, a local resident.

People complained that though both NGOs and the government were providing relief materials, these were either being hoarded or diverted elsewhere.

“Our village has 153 families. Since floodwaters inundated the village, we have received relief materials such as chudda (flattened rice) and rice for two days only. Not one roll of polythene was distributed here. The officials had handed over relief operations to people of a political party. They forced us to put our signature on blank papers to corroborate that relief was distributed in the village,” alleged Chintamani Swain from Mahanangala village, which falls in Ameipala gram panchayat.

“We received relief materials from the government for just four days. But the sarpanch and government employee in charge of relief put it on paper that our village was provided relief materials for seven days. We have raised objections and refused to accept relief for three days till the backlog is settled,” said Sushant Samal of Akhua-dakhini village in Marshaghai block.

“The government relief officials and BJD party workers have gobbled up over 50 per cent of relief materials. Wherever we have gone in the past three days, the nature of complaints is strikingly similar. The food grains given are either inadequate or disproportionate,” alleged Balram Parida, former chairman of Mahakalpada panchayat samity.

“There is massive hoarding of chudda, rice, polythene sheets and tarpaulin at various places in Kendrapara. The relief materials sanctioned by the government are being diverted to the open market. As a result, the price of chudda has drastically fallen in the township. The district collector was informed about the pilferage. But he hasn’t taken any action,” said Ganeswar Behera, a senior Congress leader and former minister.

He added: “Relief materials procured from the government and private concerns are being hoarded at the party office. Till today, it hasn’t been distributed. Truckloads of relief material and tarpaulin were hoarded in various block offices while people are still living in the open.”

Kendrapara collector Pradipta Kishore Mohanty, however, said: “The authorities have come across instances of relief pilferage, but they have been few and far in between. Three government employees have been placed under suspension for lapses in relief duty. The relief operations are free from any form of political intervention and the charges levelled by the Opposition are baseless.”