Our Community Correspondent Sumitra Barik reports from Ward no. 7 in Odisha's Puri district where one of the slums called Bijaya nagar has submerged in water. This has been the case for many weeks and the administration has not come for their rescue.
One of the residents that Sumitra spoke to said that officers came and took pictures. But nothing has changed on the ground for them. About 91 residents of the slum, mostly women, children and elderly are spending their lives in knee deep water and have lost all their belongings. They haven't eaten anything for four days.
Children said that they have lost all their notes and school books due to the flooding of the slum. Now they are not sure how to continue studying. The locals also allege that authorities broke their houses several times. Now when water has entered their houses they are nowhere to be seen.
Local authorities arranged for fire brigades to deploy machines to pump out water. But as soon as the pump stops, the water re-enters the huts and things are back to how they were.
If you wish to support the slum dwellers of Puri, Odisha, call on the number provided at the end of the video and put pressure on them to provide immediate relief to Bijaya Nagar residents.
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