So I step out of my house and go from where I live in Chennai floods to one of the inundated localities. Just as I was about to step into a narrow street, a blaring horn scares the pedestrians, including me, away. And what follows is 14 SUVs, one after the other, repeating the honking, zipping past us. Except two, all the others have the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party flag fluttering up front. The other two were police escort cars. It was the local MLA who had come to ‘tour’ the area. This exemplifies the sycophancy and hypocrisy of how the Chennai crisis caused by rains and floods have has been handled.
I am of the more fortunate Chennaiites who haven’t been affected by the flood waters. So, I tried my hand at helping those in need in whatever little way possible. One caveat before I get to what I really want to say: not often am I critical of the government machinery and this is not a bashing of the authorities I want to do but more of the anguish I have felt in the past few days.
Much has been written about the callousness of planning, coordination and rescue efforts during the flooding. But what has followed in the aftermath has been an utter disregard for the immediate concerns of the needy.
Take this, for instance: the INS Air avat, the naval vessel with tonnes of essential supplies and relief material reached Chennai port on Friday, December 4, but the officials and Navy personnel were scrambling to find out where the materials were to be transported. A relief worker who has been with them says, there was absolutely no way to contact any state government official. And he corrected himself, saying "We didn't know whom to get in touch with." They then contacted an Army officer who directed them to a place where they could offload the relief material; they found their way by themselves.
The most shocking part, though, is over 'owning' the relief materials and the politics behind it. Many of my friends, mostly professionals, from Coimbatore and Tirupur got together and prepared food, clothes and bought essential supplies. They sent all this to Chennai and Cudallore in different trucks. At key 'check points', these trucks were stopped to do – guess what? Stick posters of the Chief Minister on the trucks and carton boxes before being distributed. In fact, I was told that in one of the areas, a truck was made to wait for more than four hours because of a delay in printing these stickers!
Chennai Floods 2015,There are still areas that need volunteers, supplies, help and relief material. But there is not one official point of contact or a place to access necessary information. It's all hearsay or social media (which not entirely reliable) or through journalists' word of mouth. That's how ineffective coordination and planning has been. The head of one of the rescue teams which did exemplary service had an Army officer tell him "we do not know Chennai's geography at all and the information coming us from the local police or corporation officials was minuscule. It was better to liaise with such local volunteers." Make no mistake, some of the bureaucrats are among the best and capable lot. But it seems they have no authority and have to wait for orders at every step.
I'm reminded of the first media conference which was held in 2011 after the new government came to power and I was a journalist with a leading television channel. The question I asked was: "While there has been development and investments (are) coming into the state during previous stints, there is a thought that you tend to micro-manage every aspect. Will this change this time?" Pat came the reply: "The very charge in your statement is false." Perhaps we now the real answer. The unfortunate part is it took a tragedy of colossal proportions to make it obvious.
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