Jawaharlal Nehru indoor stadium located behind Chennai Central station has been the state government’s control room for relief work after floods devastated the city. On Monday, the venue had over 1,000 citizens who had come forward to help dozens of senior government officers engaged in segregating relief items and packing them in parcels. These volunteers comprised youth, housewives, school and college students.
They joined hands to ready the relief parcels containing milk, biscuits, drinking water, noodles, milk powder and chocolate.
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Outside the stadium, 30-odd lorries waited to despatch the parcels to relief camps.
Among the citizens was 47-year-old Annadurai, who owns a small engineering firm. He said that he had seen an announcement on a Tamil TV channel, asking volunteers to join the relief work and decided to join in. He was accompanied by his 15-year old son Karthick.
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On Monday, CM Jayalalithaa announced a flood relief of Rs 10,000, 10 kg of rice, a sari and a dhoti for those who lost their huts in the floods. People who live in permanent houses that were affected will receive Rs 5,000, 10 kg of rice, a sari and a dhoti. Those who lost their livestock in the flood will also receive compensation — Rs 10,000 for loss of cows and buffaloes, Rs 3,000 for goats and pigs and Rs 100 for chicken.
As for farmers, the state will pay Rs 13,500 per hectare if 33 per cent or more paddy crops were lost. Rs 18,000 per hectare will be paid for long-term crops. The CM said that 13,80,461 people had been housed in 5,554 flood relief camps set up in Chennai, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts.
However, hundreds of people who took shelters in marriage halls, theatres and private warehouses are being forced to move out. “Wherever such cases were reported, we intervened and ensured that they are allowed to stay for a few more days before we can shift them to state-run camps,” said a senior revenue official.
The government is yet to come out with official figures pertaining to the calamity. The death toll due to the floods, as per media reports, has climbed to 296.
Meanwhile, hundreds of missing cases have been reported in the 97-odd relief camps run by the government. Relief workers alone have reported at least 500 missing cases. “Who would trace them? Who will tell us even if their bodies are found later?” said B Murugan, who lives beside the Saidapet slum, which was washed away in the calamity.
Relief materials are being dispatched from hundreds of centres in the city. Private firms, organisations and individuals have all joined in. However, the disconnect between the government and independent volunteers continues to hamper relief work.
A number of burglaries are being reported from inundated localities. The city’s health officials have not reported any major health issue other than injuries, viral fever and skin ailments.
So I step out of my house and go from where I live in Chennai 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 Airavat, 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.
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.
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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.
They joined hands to ready the relief parcels containing milk, biscuits, drinking water, noodles, milk powder and chocolate.
http://www.washblog.com/user/buyhbacklinks/prefs/User%20Info
Outside the stadium, 30-odd lorries waited to despatch the parcels to relief camps.
Among the citizens was 47-year-old Annadurai, who owns a small engineering firm. He said that he had seen an announcement on a Tamil TV channel, asking volunteers to join the relief work and decided to join in. He was accompanied by his 15-year old son Karthick.
-
On Monday, CM Jayalalithaa announced a flood relief of Rs 10,000, 10 kg of rice, a sari and a dhoti for those who lost their huts in the floods. People who live in permanent houses that were affected will receive Rs 5,000, 10 kg of rice, a sari and a dhoti. Those who lost their livestock in the flood will also receive compensation — Rs 10,000 for loss of cows and buffaloes, Rs 3,000 for goats and pigs and Rs 100 for chicken.
As for farmers, the state will pay Rs 13,500 per hectare if 33 per cent or more paddy crops were lost. Rs 18,000 per hectare will be paid for long-term crops. The CM said that 13,80,461 people had been housed in 5,554 flood relief camps set up in Chennai, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts.
However, hundreds of people who took shelters in marriage halls, theatres and private warehouses are being forced to move out. “Wherever such cases were reported, we intervened and ensured that they are allowed to stay for a few more days before we can shift them to state-run camps,” said a senior revenue official.
The government is yet to come out with official figures pertaining to the calamity. The death toll due to the floods, as per media reports, has climbed to 296.
Meanwhile, hundreds of missing cases have been reported in the 97-odd relief camps run by the government. Relief workers alone have reported at least 500 missing cases. “Who would trace them? Who will tell us even if their bodies are found later?” said B Murugan, who lives beside the Saidapet slum, which was washed away in the calamity.
Relief materials are being dispatched from hundreds of centres in the city. Private firms, organisations and individuals have all joined in. However, the disconnect between the government and independent volunteers continues to hamper relief work.
A number of burglaries are being reported from inundated localities. The city’s health officials have not reported any major health issue other than injuries, viral fever and skin ailments.
So I step out of my house and go from where I live in Chennai 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 Airavat, 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.
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.
http://noisetrade.com/fan/buyjybacklinks
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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