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Monday Musings: What if Mutha canal had breached at night?
More often than not, our bureaucrats indulge in passing the buck, don’t take preventive action and wake up only after disaster strikes.
On the morning of September 27, panic gripped the Janata Vasahat slum near Dandekar bridge in west Pune when a wall of the Mutha right bank canal breached and water gushed in forcefully. This 11 km long canal brings water from the Khadakwasla dam to the Cantonment Water Works where it is treated and distributed to the eastern parts of Pune.
As a result of that disaster, there was flooding in the area, inundating nearly 350 homes with knee-deep to waist-deep water, destroying a few shanties, and damaging vehicles parked outside and things kept inside.
Electronic stuff like television sets and small refrigerators, furniture, bedding, food and other household belongings were damaged by the flooding.
The biggest consolation was that no one drowned in this disaster. The breach occurred at around 10.30 -11 am and the men and the women had gone out to work; children were at school. The only people left behind were older folks and small children, who were evacuated by youths from the neighbourhood.
This accident did not come as a surprise to anyone from the area, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) or the Irrigation Department to whom the canal belonged. When Mayor Mukta Tilak went to the spot to console the flood-affected and inspect the damage, she was greeted with considerable anger by the residents. They blamed the municipal authorities for ignoring repeated appeals to get the canal repaired as it had developed cracks and leakages.
Municipal authorities on their part, acknowledged that the canal needed repairs and had written repeatedly to the Irrigation Department to have it repaired.
The irrigation department had written back to the civic authorities asking it to bear the cost of the repairs and this was the bureaucratic ping-pong that the two bodies were indulging in.
Finally, there was no option but to undertake urgent canal repairs after it breached last week causing the destruction already reported. This is one of the best examples of how our bureaucrats work. More often than not, they indulge in passing the buck, don’t take preventive action and wake up only after disaster strikes.
Here’s what would have happened had the Mutha right bank canal breached at night: At least a dozen lives - if not more – would ha been lost. People would have been sleeping in the very homes which had been swept away by the force of the gushing waters. There could have been a stampede in the darkness and one does not know what bigger disaster Pune would have woken up to the following morning!
This disaster cannot be taken lightly, but that is exactly what is bound to happen. A week has passed and it is as good as forgotten. The politicians have gone through the usual motions: Some relief and compensation has been promised by the state government and the civic body, politicians have paid a visit to the site and shed crocodile tears and the poor victims have been left to pick the pieces of their broken, damaged households.
Typically, a probe has been ordered which will be tabled after a few weeks, and going by history, no bureaucrat will lose his job or face suspension. This lackadaisical approach on the part of the Indian bureaucracy needs to change if India is to move forward and see the dawn of good governance.
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abhay.vaidya@htlive.com
