People in the field who closely monitored the water level were posting messages in the microblogging sites about the ulterior motives of the CPI-M leaders and the Kerala ministers.
The CPI-M led Kerala government was caught with its trousers down as the demand for funds for flood relief and rehabilitation raised by Chief Minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan has been found to be a big hoax.
What is causing concern is the delay by the Kerala Government in submitting to the Centre the official data about the extent of damages caused in the man-made floods.
The Chief Minister who has been complaining from day one that the Narendra Modi-led federal government was victimising it because of the former’s secular, liberal, democratic and human rights policies was also campaigning through the mass media that the State needs more than Rs.40,000 crores ($6 billion) for the reconstruction of roads and other infrastructure facilities.
Vijayan had told Prime Minister Modi who visited the State on August 18 that the recent man-made floods had caused a loss of Rs.20,000 crores ($3 billion). The Chief Minister’s claim was that 98,000 km road had been destroyed because of the floods and the State required Rs.13,800 crores ($2 billion) for re-laying the same. But senior officials of the Public Works Department in their stock-taking after the receding of the flood waters found that only 34,372 km of roads have been damaged and this could be reconstructed with just Rs.5800 crores. (The 98,000 km road includes 16,000 km long road built by the PWD, 82,000 km long village roads and 134 small bridges).
The Prime Minister had issued a directive to the National Highway Authority of India to relay the damaged/ destroyed highways and the National Thermal Power Corporation and the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd to repair/ rectify/ replace the power system and transmission lines which were damaged in the man-made floods.
What is causing concern is the delay by the Kerala Government in submitting to the Centre the official data about the extent of damages caused in the man-made floods. Interestingly, the Kerala Chief Minister in his daily interactions with the media had stated that the damages may cross even Rs.40,000 crores.
The State is yet to respond to the queries made by the NHAI, NTPC and the PGCIL about the details of the damaged caused by the highways and power sector in the disaster. Pinarayi Vijayan did not expect the Prime Minister to make a declaration that the Centre would take over the reconstruction works caused by the man-made floods. Did the CPI-M led Kerala government want to make a big fortune out of the floods by claiming that the State had suffered massive destruction? The Prime Minister also went to the extent of declaring that the houses destroyed/ damaged in the floods would be rebuilt/ repaired under the Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana, a scheme initiated by the Centre for making houses available to all those without a roof over their heads.
What caught the attention in the recent floods was the stance of the Kerala Government and the CPI-M in publicising the “damages” and “destructions” caused by the man-made floods. The Lok Sabha election is around the corner and the CPI-M, past masters in the game of election fund collection saw the heavy rains as an opportunity to collect as much cash under the garb of flood relief.
The Marxists stand with egg on their face following the disclosures made by the UAE Government that there never was an offer of $100 million from them.
If there was a main architect of the man-made floods in Kerala it would be the Marxist minister for power M M Mony. It was Mony, who vehemently opposed the opening of the shutters of the dams in Kerala, especially the Idukki and Edamalayar hydro electric projects in spite of advance warnings issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES)[1] about the impending heavy rains which were to ravage the State[2].
Why was Mony near the Idukki Dam, when the water levels were rising? Was it to ensure that the engineers did not open the shutters of the dam? “Had the dams been opened as per the data given by the IMD and the ministry of earth sciences, this flood would not have occurred,” said a senior power systems engineer[3].
The chief minister claimed that the IMD or MOES did not give an advance warning about the rainfall. When confronted with the press notes issued by these bodies, Vijayan was forced to retract from his allegations. Interestingly, the Kerala Government has filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court in response to a PIL by an Idukki resident stating that the unprecedented high level of water in the Mullaperiyar Dam, owned by Tamil Nadu should be brought down[4].
Tamil Nadu government filed a counter to this statement but not before Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy giving a mouthful to his Kerala counterpart for spreading all kinds of canards about the floods. It was to divert the attention of the public from these two setbacks that the Marxist dominated media in Kerala came out with allegations that Prime Minister Modi had refused the $100 million offered to Kerala by the UAE Government.
The Marxists stand with egg on their face following the disclosures made by the UAE Government that there never was an offer of $100 million from them. If a thorough probe is ordered into the factors that led to the delay in the opening of the shutters of more than 40 dams in the State, the CPI-M would be in for major trouble.
The volunteers of World Vision, one of the first evangelical teams to reach the flood affected Kerala came with tonnes and tonnes of Bibles and registration forms for religious conversion
Though there were heavy rains in the second fortnight of the month of July, it had not caused any major floods barring landslides at some high range locations. But the Marxist media aired close up shots of water gushing down the rivers to create an impression that Kerala has fallen prey to a major natural disaster.
What is of concern is that the flood had literally damaged certain areas in the districts of Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Alappuzha, regions close to Periyar River. The floods inflicted maximum damage to places like Chengannur, Thiruvalla, and Aranmula where there is considerable Hindu population. Hundreds of people were caught up in the Aranmula Temple for days because the flood waters had swallowed the roads leading to the temple. But the Kerala Government refused to hand over the rescue and relief operations to the central forces and paid scant regard to the victims who got stranded in the temple as well as in other regions in these places.
The local Marxist leaders, in fact, drove away the volunteers of Seva Bharati (a voluntary rescue team under the RSS who are always the first activists who reach any places coming under natural disasters) and seized all the relief materials brought by the Seva Bharati for the flood victims. This was done allegedly under the instructions of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the secretary of the CPI-M, infamous as a black magician as well as a sorcerer. More details about the rescue and relief drama staged by the Marxist volunteers will soon figure in the PGurus.
The volunteers of World Vision, one of the first evangelical teams to reach the flood affected Kerala came with tonnes and tonnes of Bibles and registration forms for religious conversion[5]. The first life-saving material to land in Kerala was the Bibles! Evangelists came under the garb of disaster relief operators!
People in the field who closely monitored the water level were posting messages in the microblogging sites about the ulterior motives of the CPI-M leaders and the Kerala ministers.
On Sunday early morning (September 1, 2018) Pinarayi Vijayan left for the USA for a medical check-up. One wonders what is in store for Kerala and the CM!
All members of the Kerala cabinet are flying abroad on fund collection drives. Please wait for the detailed report from the countries they are visiting.
[1] Reservoirs not managed using a scientific, decision-support system: M. Rajeevan – Aug 27, 2018, The Hindu
[2] Kerala lacks a flood warning system: Ministry of Earth Sciences – Aug 26, 2018, The Hindu
[3] Dams were 80% full in July – Sep 1, 2018, Indian Express
[4] Kerala blames Tamil Nadu for floods – Aug 24, 2018, The Hindu
[5] Deep State in India? Discussion with Madhu Kishwar – Sep 2, 2018, Facebook page of Rajiv Malhotra
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According to CESS-Centre for earth science studies,Thiruvanthapuram flooded areas along the Pamba river basin had high sediment deposits measuring feets.These sediments were seen to contain material from the lowest strata of dams.
This was due to the opening of of ‘Vertical shutters’ on the dam beds of Kakki and other dams draining into Pamba river basin with ulterior motives.
These vertical shutters are only opened for dam cleaning,desilting and decommissioning only during summer or drought times.
Opening of the vertical shutters after midnight on Aug 15,2018 had made sand,silt and sediments to flow out in massive amount leading to feet high deposits along Pamba river basin aggravating the flood situation drastically.
During natural disasters, instead of sanctioning the amounts to state govts, the central govt should allot the same amounts central authorities like National highways ,NHPC,Natio Al housing corp etc for restoring the losses, so the inflated figures of state govts can be proved wrong and all citizens who incurred loss will be covered without any difference.
” The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus”
But who is the author????
Any comment in favor of the above article would certainly be branded not only as (1) “Sabotaging the Spirit of Flood-relief” by the Government of Kerala, but also as (2) Speaking on behalf of Tamilnadu on the Mulla-periyar embroglio…
Absolutely right. I had mentioned this in one of my earlier comment.
Nature’s part is only 20% The rest is due to total negligence of the present Govt. It is a man made disaster.
Regarding relief aid : state wanted to collect as much as possible so that they can squander it at their will. The relief operations are done by military, fisherman and general public who acted spontaneously. relief materials are in abundance.
Rehabilitation work: state has no clear cut plan till date.all ministers are busy going abroad on the pretext of relief aid collection ( another waste of money).Those who wanted to give donations will give anyway.
State wanted all employees to give one month salary compulsory.the truth is that more than 80% of state employees are from single earning member family and the salary is their sole income.
CM relief fund has 1070 cr till date plus 600 cr centre aid.Central govt ordered all business house to contribute to cm relief fund under prevailing social responsibility act. (Pay 2% of profit compulsory for those having more than 100cr, I think) .more funds will come.
Corruption: already started.grease the palms of official and local politicians to get relief from govt. Example. Reports from Malappuram that appeared in TV. Where panchayat sanctioned 5.5 lakh and 3.4 lakh to repair building having no damages when actual sufferers still waiting for aid
Sand mafia active in removing the sand that accumulated on riverbeds
The net result is this flood made Some people rich overnight at the cost of others
Can I share Lions Club of Ottapalam bank details for donations for Kerala Flood relief operations here? The Lions Ottapalam President Mr. Manoj Kanjirathody is doing yoeman service to rehabilitaion programs after being intensely involved with relief operations during floods. Please check out his page at Manoj.Kanchirathodi
Money received will be put to optimum use. The post rehabilitation program involves reconstruction of 101 houses.
Can some lawyer or any good human with good connect file a PIL on the Kerala government, World Vision so that World vision is barred from any activities in India. High time that such worthless evangelists are taught a lesson.
Most of the above facts might be true. How can I forward this message/ article to others.
Please advice.
These so called communists are infact capitalist.his children are in USA.in case he is a true communist he should have taken treatment from any of the hospitals either in Kerala or in India.
Kerala’s flood and the Politics of Damage/relief, the suffering being seen as an opportunity! all this has become a lost cause as quite a bit of water has flown under the bridge! and very little can be done against this unruly brigade except for such article. There is a more serious concern which is the possibility of this being repeated in Tamil Nadu, in the coming months Nov-Dec. Can negligence/motivated damages be kept to the minimum. What should be done to ensure that the Dams ! are managed to ensure that it can really serve the purpose of helping the people by reducing the damage due to floods in the rain instead of flooding ferociously! as is the practice for some years now!!!!
TAMIL NADU SHOULD BE OUR CONCERN! WE CAN DO SOMETHING NOW!!!