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NGOs of a second kind

M I Khan in Bhubhaneswar

The non-governmental organisations are treating the post-cyclone situation in Orissa as an opportunity to make money. It may be suffering and misery for the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the cyclone but for most NGO volunteers the situation is a godsend of the millennium. They are missing no chances to mint money in the name of 'relief.'

These so-called volunteers have become rich. They strut around with brand new cell phones while some of them flaunt their new vehicles. Still others have either landed in the United States and Europe or are planning to visit these places soon to raise funds for the relief.

Orissa has a large number of NGOs mainly in the backward western districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput known as the 'KBK districts' and which are notorious for their poverty and starvation. Following the super cyclone it has given them the chance to expand their activities to the coastal districts too.

According to a recent estimate, in Bhubhaneswar alone there are more than 500 registered NGOs and over 5,000 in the whole state. A lot of them of course exist on paper only. In the post-cyclone period a number of organisations and individuals who are basically commercial people have styled themselves as saviours with the sole intent of exploiting the massive national and international funds which are coming in. "As a result the relief which is pouring in in the name of the poor is hardly reaching the poor in the remote areas but is getting diverted by these unscrupulous people," an activist, who understandably wished anonymity, told rediff.com.

He made it clear that if the racketeers know that he has been exposing their misdeeds they may finish him off. A perfunctory investigation into the ongoing racket revealed that it is not only the so-called voluntary activists who have pounced on the booty but several retired government officials, low level netas and even some unemployed youth.

Barely two months ago, the NGOs operating in coastal Orissa, which is socio-economically advanced than the hinterland, were not getting adequate funds but the cyclone has changed all that. In what may be considered a strange twist, while tourists are staying off their favourite triangle comprising Puri, Konark and Bhubhaneswar, in their lieu there is a large inflow of relief officials from abroad and the rest of India which is keeping the occupancy rates in the big and medium hotels in the area high.

An activist associated with the Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission, an umbrella organisation of over two dozen NGOs, disclosed that since the cyclone, the worst-affected blocks in Jagatsinghpur, Kenderapara and Puri have became picnic spots for these so-called volunteers.

Interestingly, once voluntary activists were considered idealistic people committed to simple living and high thinking but the tragedy bred by the latest Orissa cyclone has seen them -- or at least the majority of them -- appear in a new incarnation. In this context, the real sufferers are the few genuinely committed NGOs.

It may be noted that with the large number of orphaned children wandering around without shelter or care a lot of NGOs have moved in to set up ''orphanages'' to take care of them. Sources revealed that there is heavy competition among these NGOs to have the maximum number of these orphans under their respective tutelage. "The NGOs have been making all out efforts to create an orphan market for business," remarked an activist.

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