The severe rains and subsequent flooding that have devastated Chennai, parts of coastal Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry have now subsided. But the many questions that the floods raised as to the culpability of successive Governments and disastrous policies must not be allowed to subside.
Even when it came to basic rescue and relief work, the callousness of Governments of TN and Puducherry as well as the Centre were in stark contrast to the remarkable display of selfless voluntary efforts by citizens. As many have remarked, the city of Chennai in particular showed its best side in its worst crisis – with people rising above differences of faith to help each other. The Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has issued an appeal on media and social media – an appeal which is an exercise in building up her own image as a ‘caring Mother’ of the citizens, while her party insisted on putting photos of the CM ‘Amma’ on relief packages. Such shameful and self-serving advertisements have only rubbed salt into the wounds of people who – so long after the disaster – are still unable to return to their homes and have lost everything.
It is clear by now that the calamities that struck Uttarakhand, Kashmir and now Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, are not mere ‘natural disasters’ – they are very much a product of the ‘development’ policies of Governments. Elected Governments are not needed to be ‘mothers’ (Amma) or ‘parents’ (mai-baap) to citizens – they are required to take responsibility and be accountable. There is no getting away from the fact that the floods were not an act of God, as claimed by the Chief Minister who declared that “Losses are unavoidable when there’s very heavy rain.” Rather, the floods were made by successive Governments – and the Government must be held accountable for the losses suffered by people. Compensation in such a disaster cannot then be an act of charity – it must be a penalty on the Government for having left people not only unprotected but more vulnerable than usual.
It is now widely recognised that the release of excess water from the Chembarambakkam Lake, which supplies water for Chennai, was the main reason for the havoc Chennai faced. The failure of DMK and AIADMK Governments to increase the capacity of the lake to match the needs of growing urbanisation was one of the main reasons for the disaster. Moreover, ‘development’ and ‘modernisation’ that has pandered to real estate mafias backed by political rulers, has meant rampant violation of the coastal regulation laws, unchecked construction on environmentally sensitive land, and blocking of natural drainage systems.
Even now, in the name of correcting this mess in the wake of the floods, the Government is refusing to act against the builders and real estate mafia who are responsible for the worst encroachments on environmentally sensitive land. Instead, it is preparing to use the floods as a pretext to evict the shanties of the poor on riverbeds, and, in the name of ‘rehabilitation’, is preparing to shift vast masses of the urban poor far away from the city centre.
The Governments and ruling parties in TN and Puducherry are trying to brand any criticism as an insensitive attempt to ‘politicise’ a natural disaster. But this ploy to deflect criticism is failing badly. Increasingly, people are demanding that the Government take responsibility for having caused the worst of the devastation, failed to provide safe homes for the poor, and failed to rescue, give relief to or rehabilitate those affected. It is increasingly clear that it is the Government of Tamil Nadu that has ‘politicised’ the very work of relief and rehabilitation, using it not only to project the Chief Minister as a benevolent Mother but also to further attack the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable.
The Central Government too has not been far behind in its callous and self-serving response. The Prime Minister’s own official social media team came in for flak when it photo-shopped an image of the PM viewing the flooded areas from a helicopter. Just as in the case of the Nepal quake, the PM’s attempts to turn the TN and Puducherry floods into a PR-exercise to boost his image boomeranged spectacularly. What is inexcusable is that the Centre has refused to declare the floods a national calamity, instead restricting it to a ‘disaster of severe nature.’ This play of words is actually playing with lives.
It is time the Centre and State governments are forced to take measures for adequate compensation for all sections of people affected by the floods and for complete rehabilitation assistance. The disaster should be declared a national calamity and a compensation commensurate with the loss should be released.
