People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol. XXXVII
No. 50 December 15, 2013 |
CPI(M) TEAM MEETS PRESIDENT
‘Declare
Odisha Cyclone a National
Calamity’
Centre
Feels Compelled to Shell out
Rs 300 Crore
ON
December 5, 2013, a five-member delegation from the Odisha
state unit of the
CPI(M) met the president of
Drawing
attention of the president and the home minister of India to
the enormous
losses the state of Odisha has suffered because of a terrible
cyclone and
excessive raining in October 2013, the CPI(M) delegation
submitted to them a
memorandum wherein it demanded that Odisha’s calamity must be
declared a “national
calamity” and Rs 5,000 crore immediately given to Odisha as a
special package
from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). The
delegation also demanded
suitable changes in the NDRF/SDRF norms so that they reflect
the losses the
people of Odisha have suffered.
The
president assured the delegation that he would discuss the
issue with the prime
minister. On the other hand, after meeting the delegation, the
union home
minister assured that an assistance of Rs 300 crore would be
issued for the
state on the same day. Later on the day, this amount was
indeed released for
Odisha; this was as the first instalment of the assistance of
Rs 1,000 crore
which the central government had promised for the state of
Odisha. One may note
that before the CPI(M)’s intervention the state government of
Odisha had not
received any help from the centre.
CENTRE’S
CALLOUSNESS
After
the delegation’s meeting with the union home minister, CPI(M)
state secretary
Janardan Pati addressed a press conference at the CPI(M)
headquarters, A K
Gopalan Bhavan, in New Delhi, raising questions about the
seriousness and
sincerity of the centre’s attitude vis-à-vis the magnitude of
the horrendous
cyclone in Odisha. He said even despite such a terrible
calamity, not a single
central minister had so far deemed it necessary to visit the
state and assess
the losses. He also reminded the press people that when the
state had suffered
a terrible cyclone in 1999, during the NDA regime at the
centre, the then prime
minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, too had not thought it
necessary to visit the state.
Pati also said Odisha had suffered cyclones and other natural
calamities as
many as 98 times in a period of 110 years, from 1891 to 2000,
and the neglect
meted out to the people on all such occasions by the various
governments has
been the prime factor behind the state’s backwardness.
The
CPI(M) state secretary also informed that the chief minister
of Odisha too had
not so far come forward despite the repeated requests that he
must call an
all-party meeting on the issue of how to cope with the
disaster and the
consequent losses, and also that he must lead an all-party
delegation to Delhi
in order to put forward the state’s demands before the centre.
While not
talking about the chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s intentions,
despite some
queries from the press people, Pati expressed the hope that
the chief minister
would indeed listen to the demand, call an all-party meeting
in the state and
lead an all-party delegation to the centre.
CPI(M)
Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury was also present on the
occasion.
The
memorandum the CPI(M)’s Odisha state unit submitted to the
president, pointed
out that the devastating cyclonic storm during October 2013
and the incessant
rain and severe flood which occurred soon after, had affected
18 districts out
of 30 in the state. But this was not all. As per an IMD
report, the number of
cyclonic storms that hit Odisha between 1891 and 2000 was 98.
It means that
almost every year the state of Odisha faces a cyclone, flood
or drought. It is
one of the main causes of Odisha’s poverty and
underdevelopment.
The
memorandum also brought to the president’s notice the fact
that during the
post-cyclone period, when crores of people were living in
utter darkness as the
electrical installations and supply systems had totally
collapsed, the central
government was charging Rs 72.46 per litre for kerosene oil
from the Odisha
state government which provides this commodity to the needy
people while at
that juncture the central government should have given free
kerosene for a
month at least. The Odisha state government had had to deposit
Rs 110 crore for
9,768 kilolitres of kerosene. This was an act of cruelty on
part of the central
government towards the people of the poorest state of
COLOSSAL
DAMAGE
Due
to the recent cyclone and the subsequent floods, the
memorandum said, about a
hundred people have died while 171 blocks, 20,000 villages, 44
towns were
affected. About 1.5 crore people suffered due to this
calamity. About 10 lakh
houses are either fully or partially damaged, and crops
covering 2.5 million
acres of land were destroyed. A large number of schools,
colleges and hospitals
have also suffered damages. Fishermen have lost their fishing
boats and nets. A
large member of cattle and livestock has perished.
Besides
the houses, crops, boats and fishing nets, about 1,947 km of
state roads, 8,099
km of the national highways and 253 bridges were also damaged.
As many as 3,040
rural water supply systems and 1,621 tube wells suffered
damages, as did the urban
pipe water system in several areas. The irrigation system was
also damaged,
along with 874 km of river embankments, 768 km of canal
embankments and 700 km
of drainage channels. Also, 1,269 minor irrigation projects,
4,848 lift
irrigation projects and 641 deep tube wells were extensively
damaged. The list
of damages also includes 8,198 boats and 31,058 fishing nets.
As
many 539 primary health centres, 226 colleges and 5,825 school
buildings were
damaged.
In
the power sector, 1,756 feeders, 38,977 substations, 36,133.9
km of conductor
of LT lines, 4,074 km of EHT lines, 2,11,014 electric poles
and 93 EHT towers were
damaged.
This
damage list is, however, not complete and the damages to the
people’s personal
properties cannot be correctly assessed. The backbone of the
people’s economy has
broken down.
DELEGATION’S
URGENT
DEMANDS
Given
this situation, the CPI(M) is of the opinion that if the
central government
does not come forward to save the people of Odisha, they would
be pauperised
beyond reparation. Normally, four million youth leave the
state in search of
job every year. Now after this calamity, if a proper
rehabilitation programme
is not undertaken, millions of people would leave their native
places in search
of job. Most of them will go on dadan.
The process has already started.
The
CPI(M) memorandum therefore demanded that in order to meet
this situation, the
central government must declare the cyclone Phailin and the
flood of Odisha as
a national calamity and a special minimum assistance of Rs
5,000 crore must be
given to Odisha from the NDRF.
Considering
the extent of damages and sufferings, the party put forward
certain demands for
the president’s consideration and urged him to issue necessary
direction to the
central government for appropriate steps. The demands are as
below:
1)
Calamity of Odisha must be declared a National Calamity and
the union government
must bear 90 percent of the responsibility of Odisha’s
reconstruction and
rehabilitation.
2)
The NDRF/SDRF norm must be amended in accordance with the
quantum of losses on
every count.
3)
In the present critical situation a special package of Rs
5,000 crore must be
provided to Odisha.
4)
All people who have lost their houses in the calamity must be
provided with pucca
houses to be built at the cost of
Rs one lakh each.
5)
For the crops damaged, Rs 15,000 must be given to the affected
peasants for
non-irrigated and Rs 25,000 for irrigated land per acre.
Sharecroppers must get
their due share.
6)
Loans of the affected farmers, small traders and small
manufacturers must be
waived.
7)
Wages under the MGNREGA work must be enhanced to Rs 300 per
day and the number
of days of work must be increased to 200. This kind of
programme must be
extended to urban areas also.
8)
Artisans and small traders in urban and rural areas must be
compensated for
their losses and provided interest free loans for a revival of
their trade.
9)
All roads damaged due to the cyclone and flood must be
repaired immediately as pucca
roads.
10)
A long term plan must be prepared to meet the natural
calamities like cyclone,
flood and drought. Recommendations of expert committees for
long term measures
must be taken into consideration.
11)
Construction work on the national highway 520 (previously
national highway 215)
to make it a four-lane highway must be completed immediately.
12)
The National Population Register (NPR) 2011 must be provided
to the state for
providing ration cards to all families.
Earlier,
another CPI(M) delegation had met the governor of Odisha at
the Raj Bhawan in
The delegation was
based on CPI(M)
state secretariat member Dusmanta Das, state committee members
Sarat Das and
Sala Marandi,