A year after Cyclone Gaja, no sign of signboards to help road users

Empty frames, damaged boards and signages can be seen on highways leading to Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Pudukkottai.
A damaged signboard on a highway in Thuvarankurichi  | MK Ashok Kumar
A damaged signboard on a highway in Thuvarankurichi | MK Ashok Kumar

TIRUCHY: A year after Cyclone Gaja wreaked havoc in Delta districts, several signboards on National and State Highways are yet to be restored completely, with many even hanging precariously at several places. 

Empty frames, damaged boards and signages can be seen on highways leading to Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Pudukkottai.

Drivers en route tourist spots and temples are forced to stop often for getting directions.
K Govind, an outstation cab driver said, “Many tourists who come by flights hire cabs to visit places like Velankanni, Thanjavur Big Temple and several other tourist spots in the district. One day, a passenger who arrived from Malaysia and was travelling to Thanjavur suddenly wanted to visit Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary and Bird Sanctuary at Kodiyakkarai. I am familiar only with certain tourist spots and have never gone to Kodiyakkarai. As there was no signboard at many places, I had to stop often to ask for directions. Cab drivers from Chennai are completely perplexed as they don’t know even the routes which I do.”

‘Mobile unreliable’ John, another driver, said, “The trouble can be felt while heading to interior areas from ECR. When we follow mobile maps, we often end up on wrong routes. Fixing the boards will be of great help.”

A year after the delta districts were ravaged by cyclone Gaja, the residents are yet to come to terms with the fact that their lives would never be the same again. Gaja proved to be a great leveller, whose machinations even time’s healing touch is finding difficult to match. It brought together people from all walks of life and united them, but in grief. TNIE catches up with some victims to gauge what was life before and after Gaja

Boat owners turn wage labourers

Located in the hinterland of Nagapattinam district, Kodiyakarai went through a sea-change post that date. Though the dates have changed but the lives of the fishers? Well most of them are no more into fishing as Gaja took away their sole source of income -- catamarans and fibreglass boats. Now daily jobs are what they are surviving on. Plight of a section of fishers is even worse as they are still running from pillar to post for compensation for their boats. C Mariappan, a fisherman,  said, “I lost my catamaran and nets worth over Rs 50,000. I used to earn over Rs 1,000 a day. My losses have not been taken into account even after a year. I have to take care of my family, including two daughters. Now, I am forced to work as a labourer on fibreglass boats in other villages for a few hundred rupees a day.”

Haunted by memories

Rajakumari, a coconut vendor, with her cart
donated by Bhoomika Trust, an NGO
| MK Ashok Kumar

As a huge tree came crashing on her pushcart in Tiruchy, Rajakumari, a coconut vendor, lost her entire livelihood on this date but as luck favoured her a Chennai-based NGO, Bhoomika Trust, bought her a new cart to put her life back on track. However, memories of the fateful night still haunt Rajakumari. Now even moderate rains give her the jitters as she stations her cart near the District Court Complex.

“I am unable to forget that day. I lost my entire savings that I invested in the pushcart. Had I not received that help, it would have been difficult for me to support my family of seven,” she said.

“Rain and gale would continue to worry me till one of my grandchildren gets a job. Though there is not much demand for coconuts in the rainy season, I would continue to stay close to my stall to ensure my cart is safe,” she added.

Poultry owner who lost 12K chicken finds his moorings

For this family, help from government and their never die attitude is helping it to tide over the crisis it faced. This day last year, M Venkatesh, a mechanical engineer of Yenathi in Thanjavur, lost his poultry farm that housed 12,000 chicken to Gaja. Demonic winds devoured his M M Poultry Farm, blew off thatched roofs and brought down several trees. The loss was huge but the family has limped back to normalcy with the help of government’s compensation from government. They rebuilt one of the three sheds six months ago and resumed rearing chicken. Venkatesh’s mother, Yelambal, said, “So far, we have dispatched two batches of chicken. We worked day and night to get back to our feet again.” With money earned by rearing chickens in one shed, Venkatesh is rebuilding the second shed.

on a mission to restore greenery

The cyclonic storm not also destroyed families but also the greenery of the delta districts. Trees that once used to be landmarks and identity of the localities were gone. While the damage cannot be undone, VANAM, a group of environmental activists, started a mission to help in the re-greening of those districts. Five days after the catastrophe, they planted 100 saplings in Ammayappan village in Thanjavur. 

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