ALLAHABAD, July 7, 2013: Expressing grief over the tragedy which struck Uttarakhand, national secretary, CPI-ML, Ashish Mittal said that loss of human life and properties in the floods/landslides after heavy downpour for three days since June 16 is amongst the worst in history. The cause of colossal damage is man-made. It has resulted from uncontrolled human interference with nature.

He said that more than 2.5 crore tourists visit Uttarakhand annually whose population is 1.08 crore. Close to a thousand villages still remain cut off with the rest of the world and people are battling starvation, thirst and injuries. The mud flowing down the river has already silted and closed all the turbines along Bhagirathi and Mandakini.

Slamming the state and Central governments, he said that when the landslides began, the government kept mum. The claim was that only a few hundred have lost their lives and a similar number are untraceable. This, despite the fact that there is a wide network of army, para-military forces, border roads, National Disaster Management Authority and police to assist the pilgrims. The government should have known the magnitude of the disaster and it had been warned by the meteorological department.

The Met office had issued repeated warnings of heavy rainfall, cloud bursts and landslides on June 14, 16 and 17, but these were ignored as routine. After the deluge, the government failed to immediately activate its entire work force. It took almost a week before these agencies came into gear. That too was obstructed by lack of co-ordination with helicopters not being given fuel despite it being available.

The main relief work was conducted through helicopters in remote areas of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Joshimath, Gangotri, Yamnotri etc. Initial sorties were dedicated to VIPs. The common had to wait for their turn. When supplies ran short, and people began dying of hunger and cold. The army men took initiative to walk on foot with the victims and help them reach safer areas.

Mittal added that the apathy of bureaucracy towards plight of common people is obvious from the fact that opening up of possible foot routes should have been the first step planned on June 17 or 18. Local villagers in the hills not affected by this heavy deluge should have been mobilized. Such villages should have been made into base camps to supply food, fuel, tents, blankets, raincoats, ropes, and medicines. But this was not done. Instead, the survivors were made to wait endlessly. Hundreds of them died of starvation and cold.

He added that in the last few decades there have been several indicators to which the government should have been more sensitive and responsive. The 135-km-long Bhagirathi valley was proposed to be declared a secure Eco-Sensitive Zone. The Uttarakhand government opposed this proposal as anti-development, with support from motivated quarters in the Centre. In August last year, 29 people died in Uttarkashi and 69 in Okhimath, Rudrprayag due to landslides and floods. The Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre opposed indiscriminate constructions along the course of the river. But the government did nothing. In fact, NDMA for Uttarakhand was formed in 2007 but it has failed to meet even once, he lamented.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 7, 2013.