People's Democracy

RECENT NATURAL DISASTERS

Implications could be Debilitating for Peasantry

THROUGH a press statement issued from New Delhi on August 5, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has drawn attention to the fact that flash floods, cloudbursts and landslips have inflicted widespread devastation in vast areas of the Himalayan region. Uttarakhand is the worst hit, with the death toll touching 28. Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Uttar Pradesh are also badly hit. Vast areas are inundated and people are stranded. The death toll is expected to further increase.

While conveying its sense of solidarity with the affected people and extending condolences to the bereaved families, the All India Kisan Sabha pointed out the utter unpreparedness of the disaster mitigation and management mechanism in the country. It has urged upon the central as well as the respective state governments to ensure relief measures on a war footing and ensure adequate compensation for the loss of lives and property. Rebuilding of houses and other establishments must also be taken up by the government immediately after the situation returns to normal.

The AIKS statement issued by its president S Ramachandran Pillai and general secretary K Varadharajan also reminded that the implications of the cloudbursts and flash floods for the peasantry in the affected states as well as Bihar could be extremely debilitating. It said recurrent floods and droughts have become a regular feature in our country; floods in some parts and simultaneously droughts in others is also a recurring phenomenon. On the other hand, the AIKS said, the central government and different state governments have no contingency plan in place to address this potentially dangerous situation. Absence of a scientific water management policy as well as efficient disaster mitigation and management in our country is causing untold misery to the people and the peasantry in the affected regions.

The AIKS has therefore demanded that the central government must address this matter with due seriousness on an urgent basis.