Blown off its feet

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Yet it is ironic that when Indian meteorologists seemed to have got their act together and predicted Tu...

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Yet it is ironic that when Indian meteorologists seemed to have got their act together and predicted Tuesday8217;s devastating cyclone as early as Sunday morning, the state could not really benefit from the information as the unconscionably high death toll underlines. This was largely because of a breakdown in the line of command, as news reports carried in this paper bear out. Senior bureaucrats were either not properly briefed about the enormity of the phenomenon, or consciously chose to treat it as little more than a small hiccup in the weather pattern. Whatever the reason, it wasn8217;t until Monday morning that most district collectors in the state received all the relevant information on the impending cyclonic disturbance and by then it was clearly too late.

Even the chief secretary of state, who happened to be in Delhi at that time, felt no compelling reason to return home in a hurry. To make matters worse, it was left unclear as to whether the rescue and rehabilitationplans would be mounted from the chief minister8217;s office or whether the state home and revenue bureaucracy would be given free rein.

Neighbouring Rajasthan offered a study in contrast to this lackadaisical and confused response. Here, since information had come in that the storm would hit Kutch and move into Rajasthan, the state government had by Monday prepared a contingency plan to deal with any exigency arising from it. It even earmarked Rs 2.16 crore for the purpose. Control rooms were set up in 32 districts which could come in the cyclone8217;s path. Every detail was planned for, including life jackets and boats to evacuate affected people.

As it happened, Rajasthan emerged relatively unscathed from its tangle with the elements. If Gujarat, with its flank exposed to the sea, had shown similar administrative alacrity, the number of dead 8212; now expected to cross a thousand 8212; would have been much lower.

But all this is history. The only way the Gujarat government can make some amends for its earlierinefficiency is by applying itself totally to the task of restoring some semblance of normality in the lives of the affected people. There are some cyclone-affected regions, like the temple city of Dwarka, which are still inaccessible and every effort must be made to reach succour to people here. Similarly, the camel lines leaving Kandla testify to people8217;s lack of faith in the local administration8217;s capacity to provide them with the basic amenities required to start life all over again. Then there is the formidable task of clearing the rotting corpses as quickly as possible before the outbreak of serious epidemics in a state that has experienced the Surat plague at first-hand. If the Keshubhai Patel government doesn8217;t get to work immediately, it may find itself replaced by those obnoxious forces which batten themselves on situations of want and despair. Already, reports have come in that drinking water has disappeared and food items like biscuits are selling at five times their normal price.