Reconstuction of society is not an easy job

Reconstuction of society is not an easy job
DARSHAN DESAI

GANDHINAGAR, FEB 16: Whoever in the Gujarat Government says by monsoon the earthquake victims will have houses and life will bounce back to normal, has not been able to size up the enormity of the task. With nearly 8,000 villages affected---- 400 of them completely wiped out---- over 3.5 lakh persons injured and nearly 19,000 dead, it is an entire civilization that needs to be resurrected.

As much as the Rs 20,000 crore, almost 80 per cent of Gujarat's annual budget, may have to be spent for the complete physical reconstruction and rehabilitation which will take a minimum of three years. And, we are not computing yet the time needed for the social, cultural and economic revival.

Unlike rural Latur, the damage in the state is across hamlets and cities. Consider the type of structures damaged: huts, mud houses, stone structures, cement concrete structures, wood-based construction, thatched houses, load-bearing structures, sky-scrapers, traditional houses, and others.

And the the people affected, directly or indirectly, is across the social strata: agricultural labourers, marginal farmers, village artisans, casual workers, government employees, household workers, farmers, traders, businessmen, professionals, the middle-class, the factory workers, et al.

Entire towns and scores of villages in the desert district of Kutch, with hundreds of its people, buildings, institutions, public services and their economies, have been completely shattered. ``The devastation is not mind-boggling, it is Biblical,'' as K V Bhanujan at the helm of the rehabilitation work, puts it.

It is all the more daunting for the reconstruction doesn't involve restoring the chaotic pre-January 26 situation, when town planning and quake-resistant structures were alien words. Now, in Kutch, new townships will have to be created with town planning and the issues of sustainable development in an infrastructurally backward and disaster-prone zone.

Kutch's four major towns, Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar may well have to be re-located. Even if that doesn't happen, hundreds of acres of land will be needed to set up the towns and villages even at the same location. The State Government is likely to take another week to decide, in consultation with the local people, whether the four towns of the border district will be shifted.

It has been estimated that these four towns will need three times more land than they presently are located on, whether they are shifted or not. With the land will come as much large social and economic infrastructure. ``Imagine a scenario where you had life throbbing in its entirety, and now, there will be empty grounds,'' says Sanjay Gupta, MD of GSPC, who is in-charge of the Anjar town. Gupta says there is no alternative to relocation of Anjar town, which occupied around 125 acres of land. Now it will need 400 acres for relocation and reconstruction. Same holds good for Bhuj, Bhachau or Rapar.

Educational institutions, hospitals, government offices, banks, post offices, insurance offices, roads, electricity, power, telecommunications, water, drainage, almost everything that makes up for a society or a modern civilization, has to be evolved afresh.