The Chennai tragedy could have been avoided if only State Governments had implemented measures that several experts had suggested in their reports
What has happened in Chennai and other coastal districts of Tamil Nadu during the last 20 days is a harbinger of many such disasters which can to hit in coming years. The flooded and submerged roads in the metropolis and the crippled telecommunication and power supply networks are signs that the administration has not learnt anything from the previous deluge in 2005, which had partially devastated Chennai.
But one must compliment Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for the effective rescue and relief operations carried out across the city and other places. Whether it is the tsunami waves which struck the Tamil Nadu coast in December 2004 or the current floods which caused death and destruction, Ms Jayalalithaa stands heads and shoulders above other politicians the State in leading from the front. But that alone should be the only the silver lining in a natural disaster like this.
Had the Tamil Nadu administration and policymakers learned anything from the past, the floods which inundated most parts of Chennai, would not have happened. The city of Chennai or other places in Tamil Nadu were ill-prepared to face such a downpour. The quantity of flood-water drained out into the sea during the last three days could have met the irrigation requirements of the farmers in the five delta districts of Tamil Nadu and the drinking water requirements of the city of Chennai for the entire year!
But what was lacking was Chennai's or Tamil Nadu's capability and capacity to make use of these surplus water. Had there been a systematic storm-water drain linking the entire Chennai and suburban areas, Tamil Nadu need not have spent millions (or is it billionsIJ) every year on lawyers to wage a legal war against Karnataka and Kerala in connection with the Cauvery water and the Mullaperiyar Dam respectively.
Professor S Vincent, during his tenure as Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre, had submitted a detailed blueprint to make the storm-water drain in Chennai city foolproof. This could have been done by spending Rs100 crore or even less. He had deployed GPS studies and traced the route through which the storm-water drain should be taken so that the entire rain water would end up in reservoirs in the city for future use. But the Government of the day was not interested in taking up the excellent initiative.
Prof Sundararama Prabhu of IIT Madras had developed an innovative technology to clean the Cooum River, described as the most polluted river in India. For a sum of Rs200 crore, Prof Prabhu offered to make the Cooum river clean and provide safe drinking water to the general public. It was a technology based on nano science. The project continues to gather dust in the library of IIT Madras. People with a sense of humour attribute the lethargy and indifference of the authorities to the unbelievable low cost of these two missions. “Had it been a Rs5,000 crore mission, people would have grabbed the same. But there is no charm in a Rs200 crore mission”, said one of the senior journalists covering the Chennai city corporation beat.
The present crisis faced by Chennai arose when the authorities decided to open up the five major reservoirs in the city which were flooded to brim due to the heavy downpour. Had they not opened the reservoirs, water would be breached the banks and washed away the dwellings surrounding them. The carrying capacity of the three rivers meandering through the city was very low compared to the quantity of water released from the reservoirs.
Haphazard town planning and violation of all rules associated with the construction of residential and commercial buildings contributed to the present disaster. There is no need to blame climate change. We ourselves are responsible for this mishap. The moment departments of town planning and local administration start working honestly these natural furies too would disappear.