A natural calamity often spells doom for many. Unfortunately, others use it as an opportunity to rake in the bucks. For instance, traders of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and other cities who deal in diesel generator (DG) sets charged double or more for each set after the week-long power outage in many coastal districts following Cyclone Fani. Similarly, those who owned DG sets charged Rs 2,000 to draw 1,000 litres of water from a deep borewell. Flattened rice was sold at Rs 80 per kilogram at several places while a small candle cost around Rs 30 apiece. However, some people could not be lured by the idea of making fast money and went out of their way to help those in distress. Some people also offered shelters to slum dwellers who had left home to escape the fury of the cyclone. Sunday POST caught up with a few of these noble-hearted people to find out what made them go out of their way to help.
Saroj Kumar Pradhan is a grocery wholesaler. He stocked at least 100 sacks (25 kg each) of ‘chuda’ (flattened rice) before the cyclone hit. With no sign of restoration of power and water supplies, the demand for flattened rice and jaggery skyrocketed in the market as they were the best alternative to cooked food. Every customer was asking for at least 10 kg of flattened rice and was ready to pay any amount, said Saroj. He could have cashed in on the situation and made a quick buck but didn’t. Not only did he put a cap on the quantity of flattened rice that could be purchased, he also sold it at regular price.
“My conscience didn’t allow me to exploit the customers when they were already in distress after facing the cyclone. I could have made a few thousand rupees extra by charging more like some grocery stores did. But I stuck to my principles and sold flattened rice at Rs 30 per kg. I also made sure that no one was given more than two kilograms so that more families could get food in the emergency situation. I also asked people not to panic as I had enough stocks with me,” said Saroj.
During such situations, people usually resort to panic buying but every grocer should act sensibly and ensure proper distribution of essential commodities, he added.
Prashant Kumar Rout, an auto rickshaw driver, had an old DG set for his personal use. With stored water fast getting depleted, people ran helter-skelter in search of water in Bhubaneswar. Seeing their plight, Prashant carried his DG in his auto and offered power supply at the doorstep. He was not the only one who was offering his DG set on rent. But the difference was that while others were charging Rs 2,000 to fill up a water tank of 1,000 litres capacity, he offered his service at the rate of Rs 700 for an hour. Sometimes, he charged less than that depending upon the paying capacity of the person. One can draw at least 3,000 litres of water in an hour, Prashant claimed.
“I could have offered the service at a lower price but my DG being an old one consumes more fuel. The price of kerosene that is used to run my generator also soared in the market. That is the reason I had to ask for Rs 700 to run the DG for an hour,” said Prashant.
“The shortage of water was so acute that some elderly people in Kalinga Nagar area in Bhubaneswar cleaned themselves with newspapers. Moved by such incidents, I decided to offer my service to the distressed at minimal cost,” he added.
Akram, who supplies drinking water to households and offices, and boasts a huge clientele, devised a strategy to best use his resources. “Drinking water is a basic necessity and during natural calamities uninterrupted supply of water becomes the first casualty. Along with my workers, I decided to stop supplying drinking water to offices temporarily, as most businesses were closed for the first few days. At the same time, with no electricity the demand for drinking water shot up. It was difficult for us but, at the same time, we were aware of the problems of the people. So, we decided to initially give only one 20-litre can to every household in the first couple of days so that we could reach out to more households. There were several requests, but we made everyone understand that we were trying to do our best to supply water to all our clients. We charge Rs 40 per can of 20 litres water but post the cyclone, many vendors started selling water at an inflated price. We decided not to do so but to slowly increase the supply once the situation improved. After the first two days, the situation somewhat improved and we started giving two cans and gradually increased supply after a week,” said Akram.
A scribe of a local English daily from the Kalinga Studio area, who did not want to be named, not only sheltered about 20 people from a nearby slum in his house when their roofs were blown away by the powerful winds, he also offered them and their kids cooked food.
He said, “It was about 1 pm when some 20 people, who were unknown to me, including their kids barged into our premises seeking shelter as ours was the only house in the area with a concrete roof. Their roofs were blown away and they could have come under the collapsing walls. They were scared. I assured them that they were safe even though I was not sure whether my concrete roof could withstand the high velocity wind. I had bought some ration for my family before the cyclone. That stock helped me offer cooked food to the slum dwellers who were hungry. There were at least eight kids who had been starving since the previous night. The families expressed their gratitude and they also paid back in their own way. When my family was battling water scarcity, some young people collected water from the government tanker and delivered it to our home. One of the families continued to supply us safe drinking water for over a week with the help of their solar power system as that was not damaged.”
These are just a few examples. Fani brought a lot of misery but it also united the people in the difficult days following the cyclone as they struggled to cope with its aftermath.
BIJAY MANDAL, OP
