WATER WOES

Wall collapse

A boundary wall of the Raj Bhavan collapsed in the rain on Saturday. Repair of the damaged wall was taken up immediately and the site was barricaded temporarily. Sources said three deer from the Raj Bhavan’s garden fled, but was later captured

Exam

Rain that have brought life to a standstill in the twin cities, forcing the government to make some hasty decisions. The Utkal University administration has postponed the Plus Three fourth semester examination scheduled to be held on Saturday. The authorities informed that the next date of the examination would be intimated shortly after the situation got normal

Train services

Rain hampered train services to and from the twin cities of the state on Saturday. Several trains were running late, while some others had to be cancelled. The situation went to such a limit that the East Coast Railway was forced to revise timings of as many as 20 trains, including the special ones meant to run for bahuda yatra. The authorities have also cancelled another five trains running in the region of Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack

Holiday

Rain and the Met prediction of more rain have forced the school and mass education department to declare holidays for all the schools in the twin cities and Puri until the further order. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, while reviewing the flood situation in the state secretariat, issued the order. He also directed the district authorities to take similar steps if needed in their areas. Students, who were already out of home for schools, were seen getting back home after the order

Free food

Looking at the need and requirements of the people, who got stuck in the rain-induced floods, several voluntary organisations came to the rescue and distributed free food to the affected people. The free food has been distributed mainly in the slum areas of Nayapalli, where the situation was worst. The state government has also decided to distribute free cooked food to the affected people in the twin cities till the situation gets normal.

Compiled by Sandeep Mishra, Pictures by Ashwinee Pati