dna edit: The annual disaster

The most disturbing aspect of the disaster in north India — particularly in Uttarakhand — is that save, perhaps, in scope, it is a familiar story. Last year, millions were affected by floods in the northeast. In 2009 it was the northeast again as well as Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Gujarat, and in 2008, it was Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. The list goes on — and worryingly, the number of people and the economic damage caused by the floods have both been rising steadily for the past 15 years or so.

The reasons for that are not particularly difficult to discern; an increasing encroachment on ecologically sensitive flood plains and a failure on the part of both the central and state governments to either deal proactively or respond effectively to a problem that can be depended upon to affect, to varying degrees, 12 per cent of the Indian landmass every year.

The construction of the Commonwealth Games Village on the Yamuna riverbed, for instance, was a prime example of ignoring environmental logic. Building embankments alone is not sufficient to convert a flood plain into a safe zone; such areas remain highly vulnerable as has been proved time and again. In the rush to grant clearances for industries and construction of both residential and commercial structures, this is something that seems to have been ignored.

The Yamuna and the Hindon, among others, are both heavily affected; the National Green Tribunal’s repeated orders to demolish unauthorized structures on their flood plains have had little effect. It’s not particularly surprising given that several of those are government projects. Delhi, Mathura, Vrindavan, Agra — they are all among the affected cities.

Inevitably, such construction not only situates substantial segments of the population in vulnerable zones but decreases the effectiveness of embankments and negatively affects catchment areas via deforestation. Throw in the parallel damage in states like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh due to reckless construction of roads and hydro projects —  unaccompanied by adequate environmental studies — weakening mountainous regions and making them more vulnerable to landslides, and the damage caused every year isn’t difficult to understand.

Unfortunately, government efforts to deal with these multiple issues are less than thorough. On the one hand, efforts to clear illegal structures — and to tighten up clearances — are lackadaisical. On the other, there is a lack of coordination at the planning level. For instance, the Planning Commission’s 2011 working group on flood management suffered from the state representatives simply not turning up, as well as states failing to provide the relevant information both about the flood management work being carried out by them and the funds required.

There have been recommendations aplenty by various studies and bodies — increasing the buffer zone around flood plains and integrated river basin management to name just two — but unless there is a fundamental paradigm shift in the manner in which governments at both levels approach the issue, the damage will continue to mount every year.