Packed in 20 buses, over 1,000 tourists struck in Orissa jungles

Kolkata, June 22 “I am falling ill in this bus. There are elderly people, women and children in the bus. It is getting dark and we are insecure in the midst of these jungles. Battery of my cellphone is running out. Soon I will lose all contact. Please help us,” Maya Roy (53) tells The Indian Express over her cellphone.

She, a resident of Entally, and a patient of hypertension, is undergoing a nightmare since last night. Without food and water, huddled inside a private bus, she is stuck up near the Lodhasuli forests in West Midnapore on Orissa -Bengal border.

Roy is among over 1,000 tourists returning from Puri to West Bengal. Packed in 20 private buses, they are stuck on a forest road, as floods have inundated roads of East Midnapore through which they were supposed to come by.

“Please give us some water. My son is falling ill. Besides these 20 private buses, there is a long queue of private vehicles. The police are not allowing our vehicles to move. We asked them for some food, but they didn’t listen,” another passenger, Arindom Mondol tells The Indian Express over phone. He is with his wife Chua and their 3-year-old son Archisman, residents of Ramrajatolla in Howrah.

Raj Kanojia, Inspector General (Law and Order), said: “We are trying to help the tourists. I have given my personal phone number and the number of the police control room to the tourists.” The passengers allege that the police have not provided them any security.

“I have been informed that some tourists are stranded near the West Bengal-Orissa border. I have asked the Sub-Divisional Officer and other officers to help them,” said NS Nigam, District Magistrate of West Midnapore.

The group of tourists, who had gone to Puri, got stranded after flash floods devastated districts of the state. As rail links between Orissa and West Bengal were cut off, they were stranded in their hotel room with depleting funds.

“We went to Puri on June 17 and planned to return by train. When it emerged that trains will not ply till next month as flood waters had washed away the tracks, the Orissa government arranged for 20 private buses. We started our return journey yesterday around 5 pm,” says Mondal.

The convoy of 20 private buses reached the border near Lodhasuli forests in the wee hours of Sunday, when it was stopped by the Bengal police. Rows of lorries, private cars and buses are stranded on National Highway 50 near the border.