The devastation of the cyclone has been followed by the utter neglect of the government. Corruption, bureaucratic red tape and outright callousness has taken its toll. Added to this, the vagaries of the weather — the heatwave in summer and drought in two districts later — added to people’s woes.

One year later, nearly all the people were still living under polythene sheets. The Indira Awas Yojna only applied to BPL people — and most did not have a BPL card. This resulted in numerous deaths during the summer heat wave, accentuated by the polythene sheets and destruction of the tree cover.

Most farmers lost their bullocks and cows in the storm. But till date, the government has provided only 3000 milk animals and not a single bullock. They had no animals with which to plough the land. When some farmers ploughed their land with tractors provided by voluntary agencies, much of the crop was destroyed either by scanty rainfall or salination of the land.

According to officials the anticipated loss of 1.8 lakh tonnes of paddy crop in the downlands, amounting to Rs. 95.4 crore is mainly ascribed to the salinity factor. A poor monsoon last year dampened prospects of washing away soil salinity.

Betel growers have not yet got a paisa of compensation. Electricity supply is yet to be restored in many villages. Drinking water is still scarce, some villages having a single tube-well and others not a single one. School buildings are yet to be repaired.

The government claims to give Rs. 75,000 for each dead. While the figure was over 60,000, the government first claimed 10,000 and later reduced even this to 8,495. Till, today claimants dues have been given for just 4,557 deaths — not even 8% of the total.

Today, thousands of survivors exist with no proper shelters, proper food, safe drinking water and no education for their children. It is anyone’s estimate how many hundreds more may have died since the cyclone. They are now, no longer even statistics, in government reckoning !!