Disaster management

After the 1999 Orissa cyclone, a high-power committee was set up; after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, an all-party committee was floated; after the 2004 tsunami, a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was set up. After the 2007 floods in Bihar and Assam, establishment of a national flood commission was discussed. However, India is far from its potential and even further from what is needed on the ground, especially in the case of flood response (“Embankments - or should we say entombments,” September 19). The Bihar government has constructed thousands of kilometres of embankments on various rivers. The business of construction and maintenance of embankments is linked with the interests of engineers, politicians and contractors. In the name of maintenance and construction of unnecessary embankments, crores of rupees are spent every year. But the problem has never been addressed in its seriousness, either by the Centre or by the State government.
It seems governments have a vested interest in neglecting flood-affected areas as they ensure a supply of cheap labour. The entire flood-affected area has become a labour-supply zone for urban centres as well as relatively developed agricultural States.