People's Democracy

CPI(M) Team Demands Central Role In Gujarat

The rescue and relief measures in the quake-hit areas of Gujarat are inadequate. There is no coordination among different agencies providing relief and there is a total lack of direction in the efforts. This is because the state government has proved to be ineffective, and therefore the central government should intervene to channalise these efforts. This was the point made by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, in a press conference held at the party headquarters on February 2 after returning from a two-day tour of the ravaged areas of Gujarat.

When pointed out that the disaster management committee of the government at the centre has handed over the task of coordination to CAPART, Yechury welcomed it, but said that even this would not be able to meet the situation. He opined that the far off areas of Kutch and other distant areas, hit by the quake, required an effective administrative agency to bring them into the ambit of the relief and rescue work and an agency like the CAPART could not meet this requirement.

Underlining the grimness of the situation, the CPI(M) leader also cleared a few misconceptions about the situation in Gujarat. He pointed out that while it is true that a large number of those affected in Ahmedabad were residents of the multi-storeyed structures and belong to affluent sections, in the main all across the state the poor have been the bigger victims of the quake. While it is true that all sections of society have shown eagerness to provide relief, it is also true that by the time the CPI(M) delegation visited the areas close to Bhuj (January 31 and February 1), a number of worst affected towns and villages had not received any relief. Yechury underlined the irony that while the stations and airports were full of relief material received from all parts of the country and the world, it was not reaching those affected by the quake. He said the talk of abandoning the rescue work was inhuman as thousands of people were still under the debris.

Replying to reporters’ questions in relation to the imposition of a uniform surcharge on income tax, Sitaram Yechury said levying a surcharge on the income tax payers was not correct. He pointed out that the actual relief and the promises that have been received will itself amount to Rs 25,000 crore which the government estimates will be required for relief and rehabilitation. Even if the surcharge had to be levied, it should have been levied on more affluent sections and the lower brackets of the income tax payers should have been exempted from it.

Reacting to the reports about communalisation of the relief and rescue operations, with outfits of the Sangh Parivar depriving the minority dominated areas of relief, Yechury said the unprecedented unity among the people irrespective of all distinctions was the biggest guarantee to foil the nefarious game of the communal forces. He said the way the youth of the minority community in Ahmedabad donated blood for quake victims showed that the communal divide itself was crumbling.

The CPI(M) leader stressed the need for studying the underground geological processes scientifically. For example, he referred to the fact of the residents of Khemra village reporting that salty and sour boiling water came out of the earth during the quake. He asserted that if prompt actions were not taken to understand these happenings, the valuable material that can help us to understand the geological processes would be lost for ever.

The CPI(M) statement issued on the occasion follows.

CPI(M) delegation consisting of CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, Mohd. Amin, minister, government of West Bengal, Basudev Acharia, deputy leader, CPI(M) group in the Lok Sabha, Sarla Maheshwari and Bratin Sengupta, members of the Rajya Sabha, visited Gujarat on January 31 and February 1, 2001. They handed over a draft of Rs 5 lakh as an initial contribution from the CPI(M) to the governor, S S Bhandari.

The CPI(M) has organised teams of doctors with medicines and equipment who are currently working in parts of the earthquake-affected areas in Gujarat. The CPI(M) team visited the worst affected areas in Ahmedabad and the Kutch region extensively.

In many of these places the overwhelming part of human dwellings had been totally destroyed and razed to the ground. Even after a week many areas of towns like Bhuj, Bachan and Anjar are inaccessible. It is not possible to imagine a worse human tragedy of such a dimension. The only way to estimate the actual number of dead is to deduct those missing from the census records.

The delegation found a massive expression of human solidarity with aid pouring in from all quarters. Unfortunately, however, much of this is not reaching the people who need it the most. Reports of aid going waste abound. There appears to be a total lack of coordination and no administrative authority to monitor the disbursement of the aid to the people. The centre and the state governments must immediately rectify the situation as thousands continue to languish in cold weather. Many of the remote villages have, even a week after the tragedy, not received any sort of relief. Striking is the absence of governmental authority in many parts of these areas.

A proper plan has to be drawn up to provide rehabilitation to the victims and a guaranteed future livelihood. The large scale destruction of crops and material require provision of adequate compensation to the affected to restart their lives.

Immediately, however, steps must be taken on a war footing to provide medical and sanitation facilities to prevent the outbreak of any epidemic.

Strangely, the state government has announced the cessation of rescue operations. This would be inhuman. Thousands of bodies still lying under the rubble need to be rescued.

The CPI(M) will make a presentation at the all-Party meeting, convened by the prime minister , urging both the central and the state governments to substantially improve the coordination of relief efforts and ensure that the relief reaches the people.