Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis became a national hero by warning IPl organisers and the BCCI bosses against holding cricket matches anywhere in the State because cricket pitches, fields and the huge facilities consume unforgivable amounts of water. But amidst severe water scarcity in latur district of Maharashtra, 10,000 litres of water was used on April 15 to clean up a helipad for arrival of Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse who is now a ‘public zero’ unlike Fadnavis. Khadse, who was to reach Belkund from latur which is only 40 minutes away by car, chose to ride a helicopter, ironically to inaugurate a newly-built water supply system in the drought-stricken village.
The reason behind wasting precious water was only to ensure a dust-free landing. When the media became hot, the BJP Minister said he was not aware that so much water was being consumed for the helipad in the desiccated area. Earlier, the Bombay High Court too had ruled that no IPl matches should be held in the State, though later it permitted a match or two just to help the organisers keep face.
Thank God, the Odisha Chief Minister is a lot more sensible as he did not play Holi. Naveen, incidentally had come, seen and then conquered Odisha the way Babur conquered north India by capturing Delhi after the first Battle of Panipat on this day in 1526.
It had all begun with Babur and the Battle of Panipat, more than 330 years before Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor, died in exile in Rangoon. The British had annexed most of the wealthy and powerful princely states of India, and the great Mughal empire was consigned to history books.
But Naveen is just a great deal luckier to rule Odisha with rising popularity. He conquered Odisha when he was not even known as a politician of any substance. As times rolled by, he kept proving that he was the cleverest of all. like the wise Akbar, he gave away the reins to able bureaucratic lieutenants and relaxed like Salim. After countless gifts and sops to the poor, which captured their hearts permanently, he embarked upon a virtually free meal scheme Aahaar, which floored the poor permanently. But there is rumour that the rich and affluent are stealing the heavily subsidised food in the absence of any robust monitoring or scrutiny mechanism in place. At least presentation of a BPl or Kisan card could do the job of saving scarce resources. The authorities must come up with a failsafe identification mechanism without delay.
Babur founded an empire which crumbled after six generations. But Naveen in a single generation has created more history that people would relish forever. The only flipside to his great deeds is that he makes inordinate delay in dropping controversial creatures that have brought his political administration infamy. Sanjay Dasburma has come under public scrutiny for having allegedly committed greed-driven fraud. There is remote possibility that he will come out clean. The Pajero issue may not nab him, but his sudden and grossly disproportionate swelling of riches, obviously through abuse of the power that was granted to him, will have him booked soon. Dasburma must be howled out of the sacred office just instantly. His in-laws have been discovered as namesake beneficiaries who will pass back the loot in good time if the matter is not investigated properly. That’s the story making rounds.
Naveen has to now speak out once for all to stifle the pinching voices of the opponents including that of once-powerful Pyari, who has virtually turned a nonentity and who says in a feeble voice that Dasburma is a small fry. The big ones are not yet seen or in trap. That’s vague talk for he does not give specific names; he better keep quite. Too many pronouns and not a single proper noun make no sense. Pyari had said he had failsafe missiles in store, which never got launched. Pyari was most disgraced by Dasburma, but he now hints at bigger crooks within the fold. Even Dama Rout and Tathagata Satpathy don’t seem to digest the Dasburma blunders.
We hail Naveen for many of his great moves to bring relief to the poor. But he must ask the Dasburma genre guys to step down until proven innocent. Naveen and his lieutenants have to devote time to peep into D’burma’s antecedents to ascertain that he is a great guy, not a robber of public property. Even his daily newspaper has been acquired under mysterious circumstances as reported by the media fraternity (he claiming to be part of media).
p lastly, a bit about science and technology: It is evident that the heat wave is not explained well. Bhubaneswar with 38 degree Celsius is far more dangerous than Titilagrh with 45, mainly because of the terrible relative humidity of above 75 per cent. High humidity levels don’t just affect tropical, developing countries; they’re a threat throughout the world. The July 1995 heat wave in the Midwest US caused over 700 deaths in Chicago. The August 2003 heat wave in Western Europe led to about 45,000 deaths. The July-August 2010 heat wave in western Russia killed about 54,000 people. It’s not just the heat; it’s always the humidity that kills lives. Together, they can be lethal, even if the heat doesn’t seem quite so extreme.
Scientists measure the combination using a metric known as wet-bulb temperature. It’s called that because it can be measured with a thermometer wrapped in a wet cloth, distinguishing it from the commonly reported dry-bulb temperature, measured in open air. Wet-bulb temperature can also be calculated from relative humidity, surface pressure and air temperature.
Of course, air-conditioning poses its own problems. Air-conditioners use a lot of electricity, and generating it with our current power system along with the leakage of coolants from these machines will add to the heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.
Bhubaneswar experiences 85 per cent relative humidity when human endurance is 65 per cent for a short term. Most comfortable combination can happen when the humidity is 45 per cent or a little below that even if the temperature is as high as 45 degree Celsius.
Incidentally, the hottest place on earth is a desert zone in Iran called lut which attains a summer temperature of 70.7 degrees Celsius. But relative humidity is much less. So, even the lut desert is safer in summer than Bhubaneswar with 44 degree, and relative humidity always much above 65 per cent. So, the ignorant media says Titilagarh is the hottest oven of Odisha, when truly Bhubaneswar kills more as the air is heavy and does not permit cooling by evaporation of sweat. The media has to engage in research before making comments on nature. Their reporting attracts Titliagarh residents to rush coast ward, particularly Bhubaneswar where life is hell. The weather experts too share the temperature only, not a word about relative humidity. The most comfortable situation occurs when the temperature is below 38 degree with a relative humidity of 45 per cent.
The smartest city designate Bhubaneswar will never be a happy place to live in because of the climate damaged by replacing the forests full of life-supporting flora and fauna with indiscriminately expanding concrete jungle. There is still scope to reverse the bad effect with appropriate nature-friendly planning. Experts are still roaming in the streets without being heard. God save the city of temples!
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)