Dead lines belie Paswan’s claims of `normalcy’

emergency terminal at Bhubaneswar this morning, the office of Principal Resident Commissioner of Orissa here in the Capital was still struggling to make a contact with the Chief Minister’s office.

And the exercise has been more vigorous ever since Paswan himself made an announcement to this effect. “Where is the link established? We do not know. Since morning we must have made hundreds of calls to the Secretariat, Chief Minister’s Office, State Information Director’s office but everything isdead,” said Tapan Kumar Das, Information Officer at the office of Principal Resident Commissioner of the Orissa in the Capital. “They say the links have been restored, but in reality only two phones are working in Orissa. Out of these, the one supposedly with the Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang, is also not completely operational. Who has got the second phone, no one knows,” said a senior official. The Resident Commissioner is coordinating the relief operations with the Centre with no substantial information on the extent of damage. For past two days, it’s zero communication with the State.

Not banking on the Department of Communication’s assurances anymore, the Orissa Bhavan officials have now pinned their hopes on amateur radio communicators who have come to their rescue. Volunteers of National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR), a Hyderabad-based non-governmental organisation with its branches countrywide, are currently establishing radio links with Bhubaneswar. On Sunday evening as the officials werestill trying their luck to get Gamang on line, the NIAR volunteers were busy installing a temporary radio station at the Orissa Bhavan. The organisation had also assisted the Andra Pradesh government install amateur radio communication stations in all the nine coastal districts after the 1977 super cyclone.

“A team of radio communicators is reaching Bhubaneswar from Hyderabad. Once they establish a similar there, the communication can start,” said a volunteer. The facility will facilitate the State administration to establish contact with its officials placed in Delhi and better handle the relief and rescue operations, he added.

Meanwhile, with no communication with the State, the officials at the Orissa Bhavan are having a tough time facing queries of people worried about the plight of their kin in the affected areas. The officials have no answers themselves.“We must have received over 2,000 calls today. But we can’t say a word.,” said Tapan Das. After people heard that telecommunications links havebeen restored, they have been making calls. And when they are not getting the lines, they are obviously agitated and are seeking an explanation, said a senior official.