Goons rule over Cuttack at night

CUTTAK, Nov 10 (UNI) — As soon as the sun sets, the cyclone-ravaged Cuttack turns into a ghost city.

An unusual calm prevails over the city, having a population of over 200,000, as anti-socials and goons take to the streets. No one else dares to venture out, except employees of the Grid Corporation of Orissa (Gridco), who are working round-the-clock for restoring power supply to the 54,000 consumers.

Fallen trees, snapped power lines and uprooted electricity poles make the task a difficult one even during normal times. It becomes all the more dangerous when they practically have to look over their shoulder for cable thieves or irate people demanding immediate restoration of power supply.

Even 13 days after the killer cyclone ripped away the city’s powerlines and the accompanying torrential rain waterlogged many areas, electricity and drinking water supply are still to be restored in most areas.

Most shops and business establishments prefer to keep their shutters down after sunset fearing possibility of looting in the dark.

Gridco, which has estimated the loss of its property at around Rs 15 crore in the city alone, hopes to restore power supply in the next 10 to 15 days provided its 800 engineers and employees, working round-the-clock, are not manhandled by irate people.

Taking advantage of the darkness, a heavy quantity of overhead wires and sodium bulbs fitted in lanes and bylanes of the city had been stolen, a Gridco official alleged. Many of its staff on field duty had also been subjected to manhandling and humiliation at several places for the delay in the restoration of power supply.

A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted that cases of looting of shops and snatching had increased but it was very difficult to check the crimes under the present circumstances. However, he said, night patrolling had been intensified throughout the city to instil confidence among the people as well as the traders.

Describing the situation in the city as ‘‘serious and most pathetic’’, Suresh Modi, a cloth merchant of Choudhury Bazaar, said the trading community had suffered a huge loss not only because of the cyclone, but also due to rampant looting of goods. It would take years for many of them to revive their business, he said.

For 70-year-old retired government servant Suryakanta Mohanty, life has become a burden without water and electricity. ‘‘This is something beyond our imagination. People can’t move out after sunset for fear of getting robbed by anti-socials,’’ he said.

According to official sources, the businessmen of ‘‘Malgodown’’, the premier wholesale market of the state, had been the worst victims of both the cyclone and the subsequent ‘‘food riots’’. In the area, reports said essential goods like rice, atta, edible oil and other items, worth crores of rupees, were either damaged or looted from the Malgodown soon after the storm subsided on October 30.

Bhikari Sahu, whose grocery shop in the area was also looted, said he lost everything that he had earned from his business in the last seven years. There are several others who have been completely ruined in the aftermath of the cyclone.

In some main market areas of the city, local people have set up street lights by running diesel generator sets on hire while in some other places they were burning tyres till late night to provide a rudimentary sort of lighting.

With no work at hand after evening, a lot of people, including those taking shelter in different educational institutions and other places in the city, are seen passing time playing cards and other indoor games.