Who is responsible for the flash-flood and post-flood situation? Serious questions haunt city in aftermath of disastrous night of September 23

 

 

 

 

NOBODY can ever forget the night of September 23, 2023 in Nagpur when terrible flashfloods hit the city like never before.Thousands of houses and institutions in different parts of the city came under waist-deep water,drowning cars,furniture, gadgets, beds and what have you. Knowing the severity of the calamity, the Government announced an aid of Rs 10,000 per every affected household or institution. The aid was undoubtedly a pittance against the damage the floods left behind in each case. Yet, the Maharashtra Government stressed later that it could give nothing more than Rs 10,000 as per under the norms of the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). This led to a frustrated outcry from flood-affected citizens. In plain words,all people across political and social spectrums felt not just disappointed but also cheated in a way. Realising what turmoil had gone on in the troubled minds, ‘The Hitavada’ wishes to ask one simple question: “If the NDRF norms do not allow the State to offer more than Rs 10,000 per case as relief, then why does not the State increase the offer by putting in its own funds?”

 

THERE are enough grounds to believe that the people in the administration have not realised what kind of damage the flash-floods have caused in the city and how many house-holds or institutions have suffered terrible losses in money and other terms. There still are people who wake up startled from sleep and there are people who see nightmares of the floods in their homes even when they are awake. Of course, Union Minister Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, and Nagpur District Collector Dr. Vipin Itankar talked to the media to announce their plans to revisit the city’s flood-water management systems and rectify the faults, foibles and defects in it post-haste so that such floods would not catch the city totally unawares in future. ‘The Hitavada’ thanks them most sincerely for having responded to all the issues it has been raising since the day of the devastating flash-flood. For the one-and-a-half months since that fateful night, ‘The Hitavada’ has been campaigning relentlessly to highlight the reasons of why the flash-floods took place in the first place, the plight of the sufferers in different areas, and the need for the State to respond with a sense of urgency and mercy and extend help in appropriate measure. Most unfortunately, the State has put forth the defence of the NDRF norms to limit relief only to Rs 10,000 per case.

 

Why? -- ‘The Hitavada’ asks. This question is both -- agitated and angry. Agitated because of the sense of disappointment the affected people are feeling hearing the State’s helplessness. And angry because the people of the Second Capital just fail to understand why the Government is shirking from its basic responsibility. For, as everybody has concluded by now, the flash-floods were a massive natural calamity only in parts. In other parts, those were caused by an illdesigned flood-water management system of the city as well as terrible maintenance of the flood-water management infrastructure. This is not just a raw and uninformed thinking, but a considered opinion of various experts‘The Hitavada’ talked to in the past one-and-a-half months as part of its investigation. During this period, ‘The Hitavada’ published countless reports and pictures of bridges with spans clogged with dirt and filth and shrub-outgrowth. It also published close-up photographs of bridges that need an urgent repair. It also raised issues about the lethargic approach of the civic administrations to sorting all related issues.

 

Even as ‘The Hitavada’ wasdoing all this work in sheerpublic interest, the administration offered no responsewhatsoever to the campaign -- so much so that its officers invarious high positions did noteven respond to phone calls by‘The Hitavada’ Reporters andeditors. Such apathy and lethargywere simply shocking, to saythe least. Until now, after several attempts to approach them, the administration officialshave shown no sense of responsibility to call back. Should such persons in highoffices not be held responsiblefor the genuine woes of thepeople? I n view of this overallexperience, ‘The Hitavada’ now has chosen to askthe very serious question:Whois responsible? Who is goingto take care of the people’sproblems? So the repeat question: “If the NDRF norms do notallow the State to offer morethan Rs. 10,000 per case asrelief, then why does not theState increase the offer by putting in its own funds?” ■