Solution to flood problem must be prevention; not just disaster management and response
Floods claiming more than 600 lives and displacing thousands of people in western, north-eastern and other parts of the country have yet again called upon the need for a national programme to deal with the recurrence of weather-related events. Floods wrecking havoc in India is not so uncommon. What is varying though is the rate of recurrence of such events in different parts of the country. A vigorous monsoon across the length and breath of the country leaves our cities in shambles — roads are waterlogged; there are monster traffic jams; daily life comes to standstill; crops are wiped off — but lessons have rarely been taken. Nevertheless, what people expect from the Government is immediate relief and rehabilitation. Surely, the Government, both at the centre and in the States, have been pro-active in channelising the resources and manpower to extend speedy relief and mitigation. The Prime Minister has himself constantly been in touch with the respective Chief Ministers and has also taken stock of the situation by conducting aerial survey of the affected areas. Equally important is to assuage the people's financial troubles so that normalcy be restored soon. To this end, it is commendable that the Union Government has announced an ex-gratia of two lakh rupees each for the next of kin of those who lost their lives and Rs 50,000 each for those seriously injured. Besides, the Prime Minister also set aside crores of rupees for flood assistance. However, the impact of such monetary reliefs have been limited to building infrastructure and alleviating people’s distress only. There has yet not been a protocol that could reduce the impact of heavy rain. Indeed, emphasis of planning process has been more on disaster management and disaster response, and less on disaster prevention. It is disheartening that successive Governments, both at the centre and in the States, have hardly pondered over this crisis and have not found a permanent solution for the long-pestering issue. What is crippling is the blame-game where the States accuse the Centre of not providing the needed assistance and of giving step-motherly treatment to them. On the other hand, the Centre has been blaming the States of not utilising the relief funds as intended. Such a squabble on the part of our policy-makers is unseemly at a time when they ought to come together to devise a time-bound strategy to fix this perennial problem.
It is commendable that the Union Government has constituted a high-level committee to study the problem of flooding. Such efforts, must, however, lead to a logical conclusion. The National Disaster Response Force teams and the Central Water Commission must also lend their support to the Government for better understanding of the problem. The importance of rains for the Indian agriculture needs no emphasis. But it bodes well that the Government is well-prepared as the monsoon hits the Indian plains.