‘Floods in Kerala grave… political lobbying prevented implementation of Gadgil report’
K Harinarayan, president of the World Malayali Council’s Pune chapter, tells The Indian Express that the floods in Kerala were not caused only due to nature’s fury, but also because the state government had rejected the Madhav Gadgil report on Western Ghats
Rescuers evacuate people from a flooded area to a safer place in Aluva in Kerala (Reuters)
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K Harinarayan, president of the World Malayali Council’s Pune chapter, tells The Indian Express that the floods in Kerala were not caused only due to nature’s fury, but also because the state government had rejected the Madhav Gadgil report on Western Ghats
What is the latest update on the flood situation in Kerala?
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The grave situation is continuing in many parts of Kerala as the rains have not stopped. In some parts, though, the rain has stopped, but not in the entire state. As the discharge from dams has increased, the rivers continue to overflow.
Did you get distress calls from acquaintances stranded in Kerala?
Yes, several of them. In Thrissur especially, people are in a state of tizzy. There is a river in Thrissur called Karavanur, which is overflowing. There is a small dam over the river. If the dam collapses, over 10,000 people will be affected in Thrissur and surrounding areas. People are frantically trying to contact NDRF and defence personnel… People complained that mobile phones of ministers were not reachable.
What kind of help is the council mobilising in Pune?
We have called a meeting of all Kerala associations in Pune on Monday. We will take a call on an action plan to send help that is needed in Kerala.
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What kind of help has the Maharashtra government extended so far?
We have heard that the Maharashtra government has sanctioned Rs 20 crore as flood-relief for Kerala. The entire Kerala community in Maharashtra thanks the government for the gesture. We would also like to thank the people of Maharashtra who are helping voluntarily.
K Harinarayan, president of the World Malayali Council’s Pune chapter
Whom should one contact for sending help to affected people in Kerala?
So far, the council has collected Rs 15 lakh from Malayalis and non-Malayalis, including from Lions Club of Pune district. They can contact World Malayali Council’s Pune province office, located in Pimpri on Ajmera-Morwadi Road, Fusion Park.
What kind of help is primarily required?
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We need money to be sent to Kerala. After some days, we will send material to Kerala. As of now, it is difficult to transport material as there is a problem of storage. The money will directly go to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. We will give receipts when we collect donations from people.
Were the Kerala floods caused only due to nature’s fury?
Besides nature’s fury, the situation in Kerala is also a man-made problem. There is encroachment of river beds and along the dams. Kerala has become a hotbed of illegal quarrying. The problem has aggravated because the Kerala government outrightly rejected the Madhav Gadgil report regarding Western Ghats. Gadgil had warned the government that illegal mining and deforestation, in the name of development and tourism, had led to massive encroachments on river side and lake sides. There was an urgent need for corrective action. There is political lobbying against implementation of the Madhav Gadgil report in Kerala.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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