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Chennai Floods: When politics hijacks relief efforts

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.

Chennai floods: 96 trains cancelled today as major tracks remain submerged

Even though the torrential rains have stopped batteringTamil Nadu for now, the Indian Railways are still facing the herculean task of restoring services as the tracks at major station remain submerged.

"The tracks are still submerged at Chennai floods Egmore and Chennai Central which is making both entering and leaving the stations almost impossible. But we are working very hard nevertheless to help people," Railways Public Relations Officer Anil Saxena told ANI.

Talking about the rescue operation undertaken by the railways, Saxena said that yesterday around eight special trains were run across areas like Bengaluru and Ramesh waram, rescuing around 10,000 people and that seven to eight trains will do the same today as well.

"324 trains have been cancelled till now and we had to cancel 96 trains today but train operations will improve with time. We are trying to arrange drinking water and food for passengers. Yesterday we released 20,000 food and drinking packets. We are setting up medical booths and security help booths as well," Saxena added.

A review will be made today around 12 pm, where after further decisions on the current water level, action plans will be made.

Meanwhile, with the rains having reduced, rescue operations by different teams have intensified in Tamil Nadu to rescue stranded people as they are trying to take advantage of the rain-less situation.

"The Chennai floods 2015 rains have stopped for now and its intensity has reduced. Out team will be heading out aggressively to the areas where people are stranded, especially where waterlogging is causing major trouble. We have broken up our teams into sector and have dispersed them in south Chennai where the damage is the most," DG NDRF OP Singh told ANI.

Going into details about the rescue operations planned, Singh said around 20 more teams will be deployed, totalling the teams to 50 in the flooded state as the operations intensify. Five teams that left from Punjab have reached today and five more team from Guwahati and Patna will be reaching today.

"We have rescued more than 9,000 people so far. Our biggest priority is to recue people and ensure them to safety. Our coordination is with the State Government and we have spoken to the Home Secretary and the relief commissioners as well," Singh said.

Meanwhile, support has been pouring in across the country to Chennai as relief funds, supplies and amenities are making their way to the rain-hit state.

Tamil Nadu rains: State suffers losses worth Rs 15,000 cr

The financial loss due to rainfall in Chennai and several parts of Tamil Nadu may have exceeded Rs 15,000 crore as the capital Chennai has come to a virtual standstill,  industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India said today.

“Unprecedented torrential downpour in Chennai floods and other parts of Tamil Nadu has led to total chaos thereby creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and panic not only for the trade, industry and other commercial activities but especially amid common individuals who are bearing heavy financial loss to their properties,” said D S Rawat, secretary general of ASSOCHAM.Small and medium enterprises, automobile and engineering industries, information technology (IT), ITeS, textile, tourism and a host of other sectors have been worst affected by the massive rainfall.

“Urbanisation and unplanned growth are the main contributing factors for floods in Chennai, which is also a lesson for both upcoming and existing metros like Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and others as any negligence or ill-preparedness might invite trouble in a similar manner or may be even worse than this,” said Rawat.

He called authorities in all metros to review their disaster management plans at regular intervals and make long-term plans to improve drainage systems. "Even households and communities need to be prepared for such extreme events that are generally predicted about, SMS alerts and advance warnings should be sent to residents, local authorities need to be well-organised to deal with such emergencies,” he added.

Chennai floods 2015 ASSOCHAM has urged the central government to immediately announce a suitable relief and rehabilitation package and come to the rescue of the state inhabitants and the industry in Tamil Nadu in this hour of extreme crisis.