Rendered homeless, villagers fight winter chill

 DHENKANAL: It is a harsh, unforgiving winter for the villagers of Kanteokateni rendered homeless by a fire last week. While only a handful of the 150 affected families have taken shelter in a nearby school, others have been spending nights huddled together under the polythene sheets, provided by the district administration. With the day temperature too dipping in the last two days, the majority of the residents living in this devastated village are forced to brave the winter without any warm clothes as most of them were lost in the inferno. The worst affected are the 25 differently-abled persons and leper patients, who are finding it hard to sustain the chill.Shelter apart, many can still be seen rummaging through the ruins in a desperate bid to find any valuables that may have survived the fire. Sadly, most of their belongings had been reduced to ashes. The 400 affected villagers say what they are more worried about is that essential documents, like land and study materials besides certificates, that have been destroyed in the fire and getting a duplicate won’t be an easy task. For the students, it’s the forthcoming final exams that have given them sleepless nights. With the study materials devoured by the fire and just about two months for the final exam, all that they can do is wait for fresh books. The elderly on the other hand are worried about caste certificates and land documents (record of rights) while farmers have lost loan account books. The administration has so far provided a house assistance between Rs 4,000 and ` 12,000, which the affected families claim is too meager to rebuild a house. With no proof to identify themselves, the villagers fear that they would not be able to withdraw the house building assistance provided to them in the form of cheques by the government. Meanwhile, many who do not have bank accounts have demanded zero balance accounts to encash the amount.  Meanwhile, the fire victims have urged the district administration to  organise special camp to address multiple problems and issue duplicate homestead patta (RoR), waive loans, re-issue caste certificates and help in opening zero balance bank accounts. Collector Bishnu Prasad Panda said assessment of the loss is in progress and steps will soon be taken to address multiple genuine interests of the affected.