Sunday 30 September 2018

KERALA FLOODS AND A DISASTER IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Kerala has just witnessed one of the worst disasters in its history in the form of floods, that is, apart from the even worse disaster in the form of a government. The flood had ravaged almost 50 percent of its geographical area, caused loss of about 450 lives and material loss to the tune of a few billion rupees. It can easily be said that almost two thirds of the lives lost has been due to the ineptitude of the people in government. In fact the allegations and counter allegations have been as bad as, if not worse than, the flood itself.

Ever since the Right to Information Act was enacted, interventions using the law intended to ‘contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed’ has helped one postulate that our governance is a system that does not do anything it is tasked to do and does everything it is not expected to do. Here are two interventions on disaster management spread over 6 years.

On 26/11/2012 there was a function in the Conference Hall of the Collectorate, Palakkad. On 02/12/2012 an application under the RTI Act was submitted to get some details like the nature of the function, participation, cost incurred, nature of incidents that came under the classification of disaster, the organization of teams, the nature and place of training, the expected response time, the equipments allotted etc. The information provided was limited to the function being a training program on the operation of the District Emergency Operation Centre, the participants were the complete employees of the Collectorate (around 230 persons) and 4 employees each from the taluks and the cost incurred was Rs 27,000/-.  No information was provided on the formation of teams, equipments and training institutions or planned response time.

Cut to post flood. Another application under the RTI Act was filed on 30/08/2018, a good 3 weeks after the flood waters had receded from the affected areas in this district, Palakkad. The information sought pertained to the water level in the various dams as on 8/8/18, the date when the dams were opened for the first time, the height to which the shutters were opened and the changes made subsequently, the authority who issued the orders, the date and time of issuing warnings, the name and designations of public servants assigned the various tasks during the rescue and relief operations and those deployed in the Disaster Management Control Room and the temporary warehouse established in the Indoor Stadium near Government Victoria College, the details of setting up and closing of relief camps, the aid material distributed to the relief camps, the cost incurred during the rescue and relief operations and the source of the funds.

The one point reply from the Public Information Officer stated that the information has not been codified and would attract the provisons of Sec 7(9) of the RTI Act. But there was an offer to visit their office between 2 and 4.30 pm on 19/9/18! Does it look great? May be to the uninitiated in the ways of the public servants of this ‘fully literate‘ state. Instead of the one, two or three relevant files they would dump 10 irrelevant files also and help you to waste your time digging out the relevant files itself. Not to forget the cost of inspecting files! In any case the public authority is admittedly guilty under Sec 4(1)(a) of the RTI Act which mandates every public atuhority  to ‘ maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated‘.

Incidentally it has been reported in the media that about 89,000 tons of food grains which the Chief Minister of Kerala had sought as immediate aid from the Prime Minister and been provided promptly is yet to be collected from the godowns of the state. And those responsible cannot also be pardoned for creating an unwarranted controversy that these grains were not aid but were to be charged for. And that was not the only controversy. They came with as much ruthlessness as the flood waters themselves, whether it was requisitioning army help or a non promised aid worth Rs 700 cr from an UAE Sheik! The reports about political interference in relief and rehabilitation efforts would also put the dacoits of Chambal and the Pindaries to shame!

It is also relevant to mention here that a naturopathist, Jacob Wadakkaancherry, had been remanded by an additional sessions judge in Thiruvananthapuram on a complaint by the Director of Health (at the instanc of the Health Minister of the State!) that his campaign against use of the drug Doxycycline as a preventive medicine for rat fever was against the government’s policy. And this when the highest court of the land is still ensuring that even those accused of plotting against the Prime Minister of the country are only kept under house arrest!

Currently there are many cases filed against the government for extortion also, right from the employees of Malabar and Travancore Dewaswom Boards to the unions of government employees who have objected to the government deducting their one month pay as contribution to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund without their consent! Meanwhile the Chief Minister who has been away in the US of A since 01 Sep 2018 for treatment of an undisclosed ailment, has set a new bench mark for irresponsibility by not even handing over his responsibilities before leaving for so long to such a far off place. (Obviously, it shows how insignificant his ailment is, doesn’t it?) And it has been reported that the Kerala Government has not subscribed to Ayushman Bharath, the Prime Minister’s Arogya Yojana, touted as the world’s biggest public health scheme being inaugurated on 21 September 2018. This no doubt has deprived a major section of the population of the state from the health care benefits offered under the scheme. Can there be a worse example of the anti people stance of a democratically elected government?


21 Sep 2018

KERALA FLOODS- SOUND AND FURY RECOLLECTED IN TRANQUILITY

09 August 2018, Palakkad. Scene: a residential compound near a stream where three siblings had constructed their independent houses and were living with the best of both worlds, the support system of undivided Hindu family and the freedom of a nuclear family. Two of the houses, of which one was unoccupied temporarily, had only ground floor, and the third was double storied. Early in the morning, the couple living in the single storied house heard animated chatting from the other house and came out to see what was happening. And they found water in their porch. And even as they were looking at it the level was rising! They realized the danger and moved. The other family chose to move to their first floor and wait. But soon the first floor was completely under water and the inhabitants, senior citizens, could be rescued using canoes only by evening.

500 meters away, in another old house a 90 year old retired professor was bedridden. His wife noticed water on the floor and its level was rising too. And before she could understand what was happening she was waist deep in water. By the time rescue workers, all local youth,  reached them water had reached their necks and the volunteers had to line up, wrap the patient in a blanket and carry him over their heads!

Soon a relief camp was opened in the UP School in the locality. And that was the first sign of the government waking up. Volunteers were mobilizing everywhere and moving the flood affected to safer areas and relief camps. While those in the fore front of rescue operations were all youngsters, elders chipped in by providing food, water and clothes. Unfortunately most of the clothes were used ones and there were practically no takers for them. The common refrain amoung the victims was that there had been no warning.  To make matters worse the water level in the dam here had reached its maximum level and had to be released. Power also failed. But within 24 hours the water had drained off leaving the affected houses in a mess. Mess is a soft term for a house having a three inch layer of slippery slush, all furniture, beds, linen,  cushions and clothes soggy, refrigerators and washing machines toppled and dislocated. Nobody could move back in any short time.  Hours turned into days. Those who had left their homes started the cleaning process, some after actually moving back in and the others commuting from their safe havens. They were almost done when there was another alert. Though water levels rose and entered some of the houses again it was just sufficient to undo their effort of the earlier days!

But as it turned out what had happened in Palakkad was only comparable to the trailer of a horror movie. The real show opened in the hill districts and down south. Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala, Kuttanad, the rice bowl of Kerala, Chengannur, Patthanamthitta and a few more places bore the brunt of nature’s fury in the form of unprecedented floods. While rains, which had been continuing from early May and gaining intensity by the day, added the final blow the calamity as such was man made, or more precisely government made. The reasons can be broadly classified into two heads- mismanagement of natural resources and failure to take preventive action. Worse, what seemed to dominate the media, apart from the heart wrenching scenes of the flood affected trying to escape in hordes, wading through neck deep water, some carrying the elderly on their shoulders, were the blame game and false propaganda by responsible public servants.

The mismanagement of natural resources has a long history. Starting from encroachment of the western ghats to quarrying and destruction of mountains and forests, sand mining, encroaching the flood plains and river banks everything that has been happening in God’s own country, with obvious connivance of those in government, had been anti-nature. Encroachments were periodically legalized with the government transferring the ownership of land to the encroachers in much publicized pattaya melas. (Pattayam is the legal document of ownership of land.) After getting ownership of the encroached land the same people would move to new pastures which would be legalized later! In fact these people carry so much clout with the authorities that some of them actually specialize is buying disputed lands at throw away prices and get the disputes settled in their favour! The discussion of the extent of this mismanage ment of land cannot be completed without referring to the report submitted by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by Dr Madhav Gadgil. In fact this report can also be the last argument on the subject. The mandate of WGEEP was to demarcate ecologically sensitive zones and suggest measures to conserve, protect and rejuvenate the ecology of Western Ghats region. Dr Gadgil submitted his report in 2011. However, it was literally thrown into the dustbin by self serving politicians of that time crying (falsely of course) that it was anti farmer and anti development. Even the church leaders had joined this chorus against impleme ntation of Gadgil’s recommendations. Taking into account the comments and suggestions made by different stakeholders including State Governments and Central Ministries on WGEEP Report, the Ministry of Environment and Forests constituted a High Level Working Group (HLWG) to suggest an all-round and holistic approach for sustainable and equitable development while keeping in focus the preservation and conservation of ecological systems in Western Ghats. This Group was headed by Dr Kasturirangan, a space scientist! He had watered down the WGEEP report by keeping vast stretches of Western Ghats in the category cultural landscapes, which included human settlements and the sacred groves of Kerala, which are rich in biodiversity, out of the purview of ecologically sensitive areas. It was natural that Gadgil slammed this report saying that it had replaced the pro-people and pro-nature report of the WGEEP with autocratic approach in terms of development and ecological conservation. However, the Kasturirangan report continues to provide the official yardstick for ecological activities since 2013.

The best thing that happened during the floods was the mass mobilization of the ordinary folks from all walks of life in the rescue and relief operations. While the police and fire and rescue services personnel were the face of government in the rescue operations, the health services and the employees of the State Electricity Board also can be given credit for doing a good job during the challenging times.. District Collectors Raja Manickam, T V Anupama and Vasuki also became heroes overnight due to their personal involvement in the relief operations. Of these T V Anupama, District Collector, Thrissur even had to take a tough call to break the lock of the Bar Association’s hall to set up the relief material collection centre. Dr Bala Murali, District Collector, Palakkad could mobilize , using social media,  enough and more youth to work in the relief material collection and distribution point set up in an indoor stadium. Apart from these the involvement of the Government, particularly at the higher echelons, was totally missing. It was the timely involvement of the techies and the applications they had promptly developed for locating stranded victims and coordinating rescue operations that mitigated to a large extent the failure of the Government to requisition army aid. Even the fishermen folk moved to the flooded areas along with their boats, forgetting their own poverty and hardships, and did a commendable job in rescuing stranded people.

It may be pertinent to note here that not only had the Government of Kerala failed completely to comply with the expert panel’s recommendations but also had been fudging funds as evident in the transfer of Rs 20.29 Crores from the River Management Funds of nine districts to the Calamity Relief Funds of 5 other districts in 2006. An environmental activist, Dr P S Panikkar, had pursued this information and sought the details of expenditure from the Calamity Relief Funds of Kottayam and Kasargode districts. Having failed to get satisfactory replies he had filed 2nd appeals with the Kerala State Information Commission and had not received any decision till he passed away suddenly in 2017. An application for getting copies of the file notings leading to the transfer of funds also got stonewalled with a reply that it had been destroyed by burning.

As much worrying as the distress caused to the common folks by the floods have been the political blame game indulged, particularly by the party leading the current government  in the State.

One of the allegations made by the opposition is that there was criminal negligence on the part of the decision makers in releasing waters from dams and failing to inform the public. This is an open secret amoung the public. In this context the effort made by the Government of Kerala to blame Tamil Nadu for releasing waters from the controversial Mullapperiyar Dam and aggravating, if not causing, the flood situation can be considered to be hilarious but for the gravity of the situation. It has been well reported in the media of how the decision makers in Kerala waited for all the dams to reach the maximum water level and released waters from 25 of them almost simultaneously. Media had also carried reports, way back in July, that the abundant rains had helped the State Electricity Board to produce more electricity from its hydel projects and make some profit by selling it to other states. (However it had not stopped the Board from hiking the price for its domestic consumers recently.)

The most serious of (false) allegations is a post by the CMO on twitter that UAE had promised to contribute Rs 700 crores to the flood relief effort. This was denied by the Union Government. Bu it did not prevent the media, both social and mainstream, from going berserk with allegations that the Union Government had refused to accept the offer and even abusing the Prime Minister by name! Hoardings appeared in Malappuram thanking UAE for the generous offer. Even after the Ambassador of UAE clarified that no such amount had been offered they harped on the allegation adding that the Ambassador had been pressurized by the Central Government! Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, whose office had initially made the false claim changed tacks and claimed that he had been so informed by the business tycoon Yusuf Ali in a private conversation. The social media went wild with a distorted version that if the Government of India refused to accept the official aid, Yusuf Ali’s Lulu Group would make the complete payment. The last thing heard on this was that Yusuf Ali has threatened to sue those who had spread this false information.

Another canard that gained ground was regarding deploying army in rescue operations. While there is still doubt whether and when the Government of Kerala had actually requested for army help, the media was abuzz speculating whether handing over relief operations to army would amount to handing over the governance of the State itself to the army. The statements of both the CM and his party secretary seem to suggest that they at least believed so. A youngster in camouflage fatigues could be seen actually telling the CM, through a video that had gone viral on social media, that was shocked to realize what a dimwit the CM was. It has been reported that he has been identified and a case charged against him.

Even the armed forces, doing yeoman work in the rescue and relief operations were not spared. It was the state secretary of CPM and former Home Minister, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who made a false allegation that the army failed to respond promptly even after the government request. Another minister, Kadakampally Surendran, went on to comment that the army could only stand by with rifles while the whole people were involved in relief operations. As things turned out he was treated like an unwelcome guest when the State Government finally gave a modest send off to the soldiers at the Headquarters of Southern Air Command at Thiruvananthapuram.
There have also been enough reports of mismanagement and pilfering of aid material from relief camps. But public servants indulging in such acts had to be dealt with severely. Social media also shared photos of CPM cadres distributing aid material in bags marked with party emblem and name. There was even a case of CPM and CPI cadres fighting it out alleging that one had collected stores meant for the other. But the most unpardonable is the case of leaving tones of aid that has reached Thiruvananthapuram airport and various railway stations (addressed to the District Collector/ District Magistrate) uncollected. This visible ineptitude notwithstanding, there is propaganda that more food grains are required and the Centre should provide them. Talking of food grains, the ruling party’s dirty tricks department has been spreading the lie that the Union Government was charging for the food grains provided as relief material. This, even after the Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had amply clarified that it had been provided free.

At the end of the day, an independent observer of the events that have been unfolding, cannot miss the point that the decision makers in Kerala Government and their party followers have been more interested in getting political mileage out of human misery than in doing their job sincerely and honestly. The minister for coordinating relief operations in Kottayam district going to Germany on 16th August (at the peak of the disaster) for participating in the Onam celebrations of the malayalees there only exposed the attitude of the state leadership towards the people who had put them in their current offices and been pampering them like nobodyelse!


28 Aug 2018