RNI NO . 7044 / 1961
8 904150 800010 3 5 letters
Aqua Mortis
DELHI Mahesh Kumar : I refer to your cover story Barrage of Bunglings ( Sep 3 ). The heavy rainfall and devastating floods in Kerala have resulted in loss of life and property , as well as the dislocation of vast numbers of people . Various states have experienced such disasters over the past few decades , but have no lessons been learnt ? The abuse of nature is one cause — as per research , such rains and floods are linked to global warming . Humans cannot fight nature , but can prevent the worst by planning for preventive measures . The government must set up adequate drainage systems to flush out floodwater . With time , this water will go under the earth and will be usable for agricultural purposes .
AsiAn GAmes 2018 chAmpions of their own mAkinG
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The Damn FlooDs
why we Are never prepAred
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September 03 , 2018
new museums showcasing memories
Idamalayar dam in Kerala on August 9
DEHRADUN Rakesh Agarwal : God ’ s Own Country became the Devil ’ s Own because of a series of bunglings by mortal men . When I went to Kerala in 1991 , it was a big vil lage from Kasaragod to Thiruv ananthapuram : rolling paddy fields , with walls of coconut and banana , and the sea that would ingress at many places , flowing above the land — famous backwaters at one end and hills jotting in between , and more than 40 rivers criss-crossing the state . We were there again in 2016 , and the one big village had become one huge metro with concrete stretching for hundreds of miles : multi-storey apartments , malls , multiplexes , metro and posh homes , occupying all riverbeds and floodplains , so much so that even Cochin Airport is built on the floodplains of a stream , Chengal — a tributary of the Periyar , Kerala ’ s largest river — and just 400 metres from it .
This insatiable greed to earn fast bucks , and an unholy nexus between builders , politicians and industrialists , has destroyed the future of India ’ s most beautiful state . Environmentalist Madhav Gadgil had warned against this sort of developmental paradigm for the country ’ s richest biodiversity zone , but shortsighted and greedy policymakers debunked it and didn ’ t even implement the watered-down Kasturirangan Committee report in its totality — and the result is very much here now !
This small state ’ s 43 dams are embodiments of destruction , not development — just as in Uttarakhand in 2013 , when many dams released water from their overflowing reservoirs . The same game was played again in Kerala : the state ’ s largest dam , Idduki ’ s reservoir , was filled by July 31 , and it released water when the flood was at its peak , and then the Mullaperiyar dam did the same !
Hence , it is not nature but our greed that has created this disaster , as we can never stop rivers flowing — and when they do , they wash away every impediment in their path ; remember the Chennai flood of 2015 and the Uttarakhand flood of 2013 ?
PUNE Col Deepak Kher : Timely action by the Kerala police and the aid provided by the armed forces and NDRF have controlled the situation to a large extent and avoided a bigger catastrophe . The fishermen who chipped in with their boats also played a major role and need to be applauded . As Kerala focuses on ret urning to normality , our prayers go out to them . We must all help in whatever way we can . The question remains : could it have been avoided ? The answer lies in the indecision about when to open the dams to let excess water flow out , which coincided with the heaviest rainfall seen in many years . Hopefully , we have learnt a lesson and will be more prepared the next time around .
MUMBAI K . P . Rajan : The massive 24x7 rescue and relief operation undertaken by all the agencies in the midst of the deluge and thereafter to save as many marooned people as possible was awe-inspiring . The unprecedented dedication shown by fishermen and local people , and the donations in cash and kind from across the world , are heart - warming . Let ’ s hope this zeal is also maintained by all agencies in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts .
SECUNDERABAD Padmini Raghavendra : The aftermath of a disaster is often focused on getting back to normal life . But there is a bigger ‘ disaster ’ perennially playing out in India — politics . Even as Kerala faces the task of rehabilitating its people and rebuilding the state , a huge debate has broken out over whether the floods qualify to be dec lared a national disaster or not . A nat ional tragedy on this humongous scale has been politicised , treated cavalierly , made yet another channel for the bigotry and hatred sweeping across this country , and last but not least made a point of “ national pride ” in not accepting foreign donations . As help pours in from all corners of the country for this little one-liner NEW SOUTH WALES Meghana A .
Nature ’ s fury is more often than not a direct outcome of man ’ s insatiable rapacity .
4 OUTLOOK 17 September 2018