Once again, the State disaster management department has shown its inclination to awaken from its sweet slumber after the disaster strikes. Naturally enough, it has been courting criticism, being pilloried for its lack of preparedness to face the nature’s wrath. This is despite the fact that the Met department insisted on heavy rain coming to lash several parts of Uttarakhand.
This is reminiscent of what happened when deluge ravaged Kedarnath in 2013. This time too, many lost lives as walls of the houses they were living in came crashing down on them. Many perished, struck by landslides. Many were swept away by the eddies of the gushing water. Many more lost their hearth and home. Many cattle heads died too in the cloudburst-triggered heavy rain. The people are angry.
The critical refrain runs that whenever disaster smites them and they crave for help most the officials are caught napping. “It is scary that the State Government kept claiming that things were well under control when the people were dying or getting buried in the sludge. later, the aggressive tone changed to an submissive on, saying that the Government machinery is helpless before the mighty, inscrutable nature,” runs the refrain.
The grim state of things tends to remind one of what happened in June 2013. The weather department had sounded alert. However, what followed is a gory chapter of the state’s history.
People, especially those who are living in the disaster-prone areas say they are no longer ready to believe that the Government would step in promptly when they stare at disaster. “We have ceased reposing confidence in the government in view of what happened on Thursday and its aftermath,” one of them said.
Although officially it is being claimed that the situation is under control and rescue teams have been pressed into service the people in distress are contracting the claim, saying that they are yet to get any help from the Government.
Ironically, when the disaster struck the CM Harish Rawat was busy in Delhi, meeting the union ministers and seeking their support on different schemes.
However, sources say he was in Delhi to consult the legal experts over whether the state government is in a position to bring about the appropriation bill again in the upcoming Assembly session. Whatever, his colleagues in the Cabinet are steering clear of the disaster-struck areas of the state when the people are in dire need of succor.
Political parties are as usual milking the matter to score brownie points over one another. One party says that Centre has sent rescue team to the disaster-affected areas without waiting for the official request from State Government.
The other side says that the person who was accountable for the disaster 2013 is now ensconced in the BJP camp. Things sound queer.