[Assam] [WaterWatch] Did Govt's flood forecasting & embankments help?
Chan Mahanta
cmahanta at charter.net
Wed Aug 29 07:01:09 PDT 2007
>We can only vent our feelings in forums like this but can not do
>anything to change the situation.
*** Absolutely NOT TRUE!
I know it is easy for me to say. But each one of us can and ought be
doing something about it. Question is HOW?
Let us be analytical. Keep asking the questions until we can pin down
WHY it happens. And once we get to the root cause/s, start doing
something about it.
Mind you, it will need some commitment--on the part of the
intelligentsia, which has been absent from its governance.
Elections are not the be-all and end-all of democratic governance.
It is merely a process for selecting a crew to run the ship of state.
But if the electors do that on the basis of "Cast your vote--vote
your caste", or mis-information, dis-information and no-information
on ISSUES that so affect their lives, the chances of your getting a
slate of representatives even barely competent to govern is about
slim to none. Such a 'democratic' government is useful only to wave
at the developed world who go ga-ga over the 'successes' of Indian
democracy. But we know a whole lot better, don't we?
Now then, can this democratically elected 'crew' take the ship of
state anywhere if the sails are torn, the mast is down, the hull is
leaky and the sailors on duty drunk? That is the condition that
defines Indian INSTITUTIONS of government--which have been existing
ONLY on paper, dysfunctional to the core. Am I exaggerating? You tell
us.
But WHO will change things?
A simple answer would be : An informed polity. Not the uninformed,
not the disenfranchised, not those tottering at the brink of
survival. Nor would the ESTABLISHMENT who profits handsomely for the
dysfunctional state, and its REVERSE ROBIN-HOODISM of stealing from
the many to enrich a few, even if only by default.
So, I would submit, the only way to take government BACK from the
non-performers and scoundrels and give it back to the people-- if it
ever was theirs -- will be to begin at the beginning: Radical reforms
with the system of elections, political parties and its formations,
radically reforming the institutions of state, re-writing the
Constitution with clear separation of powers between lawmaking,
administration and the judiciary--- so on and so forth. I can go on
and on. If you wish, I will be even be pleased to.
Question is whether Indian intelligentsia really cares, and if it
does, whether it can muster the courage and has the wherewithal to,
at long last, begin to do its share for their collective well-being.
But having watched the scene in desperation for decades, I am NOT
about to hold my breath!
cm
At 4:01 PM +0530 8/28/07, Piyush Sharma wrote:
>I agree with the note in general. The last two paragraphs, i.e."
>General feeling is....have more than doubled" and "Victims of
>flood.... are being built"are apt and factual statements. The pity
>is that our "ruling class" are immune to public opinion. They do not
>have time to ponder over public interest as they are too busy with
>self interest. Increasing GDP does not reflect the general well
>being of the '"ruled class ".
>My own house was flooded by 3 ft.deep water in the rooms due to the
>flooded Nala( Natural rain water drain) on August 14. 2006. We are
>still trying to recover from the physical and mental set back.
>Surely more funds will be allotted by the Government to our Civic
>Bodies for urban Renewal out of which a trickle might be utilized
>for actual works that too substandard. We are always at the
>receiving end without proper "power connection".We can only vent our
>feelings in forums like this but can not do anything to change the
>situation.
>Piyush C.Sharma
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>
>From: <mailto:mediavigil at yahoo.co.in>mediavigil at yahoo.co.in
>To: <mailto:waterwatch at yahoogroups.com>waterwatch at yahoogroups.com
>Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 12:24 AM
>Subject: [WaterWatch] Did Govt's flood forecasting & embankments help?
>
>Did Govt's flood forecasting & embankments help?
>
>Flood forecasting has been recognized as one of the most important,
>reliable and cost-effective non-structural measures for flood
>management.
>
>Central Water Commission, Ministry of Water Resources has set up a
>network of forecasting stations covering all important flood prone
>interstate rivers.
>
>The forecasts issued by these stations are used to alert the Public
>and to enable the administrative and engineering agencies of the
>States/UT's to take appropriate measures.
>
>Central Water Commission started flood-forecasting services in 1958
>with the setting up of its first forecasting station on Yamuna at
>Delhi Railway Bridge.
>
>The website of Ministry of Water Resources claims that it has at
>present a vast network of 945 hydrological observation stations and
>issues level forecast for 145 sites and inflow forecasts of 28 dam
>barrage sites located on main rivers.
>
>It also says that "The web site provides latest forecasts issued by
>the divisions of CWC." but if one visits it one only find one
>message: "The page cannot be found".
>
>Hundreds of people are reported to have lost their lives and many
>more lost everything they owned when the waters rose in North Bihar.
>
>For people across 300 villages in Koshi, flood and waterlogging is a
>yearlong problems because the very embankments that are meant to
>stop the flood have stopped it for good letting water stagnate.
>
>General feeling is that it is the contractors, politicians and
>bureaucrats who stand to gain from the projects set up to build and
>maintain these embankments. Over several decades thousands of
>kilometers of embankments have been built but flood prone areas in
>have more than doubled.
>
>Victims of flood do not have any voice in whose name newer and
>bigger embankments are being built.
>
>__._,_.___
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