As I was driving on the Old Ziro-Hapoli road, I expected some flooding of the rice paddies as it had been raining heavily the night before, but hordes of anglers lining the river rather surprised me. I immediately understood, however. The fishes so hopefully reared in the paddy fields had been flooded out and anybody could try his hand at getting some. Some fields were being flooded but I could not see any broken bunds as in the previous occasions like this as the river banks are all concrete and stone now. The breach this year was in one of the most unexpected places – the bridge over Tabyu kiile on the Rake Lembo.
Ziro was cut off suddenly on June 14. Many friends, who had come from Itanagar and other places were stranded. Some were happy at being stranded at their own homes for a change, but they realized the gravity of the situation soon enough. Many desperately tried to get out of Ziro – some by Pawan Hans which never came to the town except on 14th, and some walked for miles together after driving down some distance. I followd suit on 19th. We were more fortunate as we had to walk only four kilometers.
It was during this walk that I discovered why the services of BSNL at Ziro is so poor. The telephone cable, which was supposed to be underground decorates the Hoj road all along.
I knew that mobile service is not working at Ziro and even the services of the landlines are very poor. I was shocked to see the empty streets of Ziro when I returned on 25th. It was like a ghost town compared to the normal hustle and bustle of the market area. The petrol was costing a hundred rupees and diesel around sixty in the black market. Many vehicles were off-road. Food commodities were getting scarce. Many school hostels were on the verge of closing down. The local students in the hostels were being sent home.
This was not my dream of Zimin Ziro.
Natural calamities due to heavy rain , earth quakes etc (causing land slides,road blocks,floods,epidemics, lost of life and property etc) are not unexpected of in our state. Its high time that the Govt and the people of AP realizes the urgent need for planning strategies to avoid and deal with such disasters in future to minimize this kind of inhuman suffering! Can a separate, strong and efficient Disaster Management Dept play a significant role?
ReplyDeleteinformative. brings out the sufferings of the marooned people vividly. is the government and the so called leaders doing something?
ReplyDeleteAnd the works of the BSNL? Ah, less said the better!!
ReplyDelete@popisarmi. I think there already is a Relief, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Department with lots and lots of money. What may be lacking could be proper utilization of resources. I keep on hearing about training programs on disaster management and words like 'relief'. :-(
ReplyDeleteEstablishing of a dept for namesake functionally is just an eyewash. What I mean is not only post disaster which creates a demand by itself but we could give more emphasis on pre-disaster strategic planning before starting any development project work like; land use, constructions of roads, buildings, brides, laying of communication cables, deforestation, soil management, water reservoirs etc. As you said optimum and judicious use of allocated budget and resources is a must today. Recently, on 2nd of july I happened to attend 'North-East Region VISION 2020' programme organized by ministry of NEC& DoNER in New Delhi. The programme was a huge success with august presence of Hon'ble PM Dr Manmohan Singh with his other important cabinet ministers along with all the CMs & Governors of 8NE states.Approx.1800 NE people including NE students from Delhi gathered in plenary Hall of Vigyan Bhawan. What was amazing is the amount of money that is going to be pumped in for the project which is approx.14 lac crores of rupees! That says for itself that the money is not the problem but the problem lies in the implementation part and the guidelines laid by expert committee sitting at the centre not minutely considering the specific factors unique to that particular socio-geographic area. The problem lies in how our Govt plans to use it. Whether their self interest of benefiting their party including their kits and kin stands taller than the public welfare! Will they still follow the policy of ‘Maximum budget-minimum work done=maximum profit’? Then where is the role of Strategic planning for the state? We cannot control the Nature but can change our attitude and practices to minimize such disasters!
ReplyDelete"the money is not the problem but the problem lies in the implementation part".
ReplyDeleteThis is what I have always maintained vis-a-vis Arunachal Pradesh (and India as a whole as well). I am glad somebody besides me thinks so. Let us look forward to a day when most of the stakeholder realize this fact and decide to do something to rectify it.
In short. Not the gun, but man behind the gun is wrong.
ReplyDelete