All political parties, except the BJP, are critical of the Atal BehariVajpayee Government for its ``meagre'' assistance to the state. The BJP has,however, accused the ruling Congress of not being able to spend the fundssanctioned by the Centre.

Finance Minister Raghunath Patanik said the state is not happy with theCentral assistance, and that the latter should have given at least Rs 1,000crore. He said the Congress government headed by Indira Gandhi had given aidof about Rs 2,000 crore to the state when it faced unprecedented floods in1982. He, however, admitted that the Centre had its limitations.

Equally unhappy with the Central assistance, senior Biju Janata Dal leaderBijay Mohapatra said the Centre should have given more. However, he pointedout that the state government has not been able to reach the affectedpeople, leave alone distribute relief. ``This is precisely the reason why Ihad demanded that the Army should take over the operations,'' he said.