The governments of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh are to be congratulated for thinking ahead of coastal roads-cum-embankments, warning radars and other means of limiting the damage from cyclones. People will fear the fury of the wind and sea less if they can be sure embankments will hold and early warning systems will function well.However, if disaster prevention is managed in the same irresponsible way that disaster relief has been, there is little hope. Notwith-standing the grand plans being made in state capitals, people will remain at the mercy of the elements. The management of relief operations in Orissa has revealed every form of weakness in the government machinery from poor planning and organisation to corruption and lethargy. Now the Comptroller and Auditor General exposes the scandalous extent to which Calamity Relief Funds (CRF) are misused and diverted in a number of states.It has been known for years that a high proportion of relief funds does not reach the intended beneficiaries. What issignificant about the CAG report is that it shows first, how much money is involved and second, that institutional mechanisms designed to monitor the use of funds simply do not work. Over the eight-year period from 1990 to 1998 everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. States flouted norms and rules and the recommendations of the Finance Commission with impunity.As much as a sixth of total calamity relief funds, Rs 1,172 crore, went into the general revenue account and a third of that went into personal ledger accounts and deposits. The CAG underscores the fact that this means disaster victims were cheated of an identical amount of Rs 1,172 crore. While orphans, widows and the elderly and other victims starved and battled disease, new tables and chairs were ordered for government offices and the salaries of public servants were hiked. Diverting funds from disaster zones to others is one form of misuse, the misappropriation of funds is another.It emerges that the whole institutional edificemalfunctions: state-level committees are not set up as required or do not perform their tasks, the Union Finance Ministry disburses money without asking questions and the Agriculture Ministry claims it lacks the power to control expenditure. So there are a series of disasters within a disaster. Evidently politicians and bureaucrats find this arrangement very convenient.At the Centre th-ere is all the appearance of managing public funds carefully because this committee and that procedure is mandated. In the states concern for the victims of calamities can be weighed in the crores of rupees demanded and received. No one seems to care about what happens in reality and no one is held accountable. Parliament should study the CAG report closely. What it says is there is a manmade disaster in the wake of every earthquake and every cyclone. For every person killed or ma-de homeless in a natural calamity area, another is killed or made homeless by government neglect and greed.
