Committee or calamity?

Committee or calamity?

On Sunday, some six national parties, together with 16 regional ones, confabulated for three hours on the Gujarat earthquake as part of the National Committee on Disaster Management's deliberations, and not once did the most obvious aspect of this calamity surface. Yet, although the observation that it is not earthquakes that kill people but badly built constructions in which they live that do, has become a cliche, no one thought it necessary to highlight that aspect. Not once during this meetingconvened by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the insidious builder-politician nexus, which had given rise to a rash of dangerously unsafe buildings across the state, referred to. If disaster management does not include, within its ambit, a scrutiny of the basic cause for a particular disaster, then what is the point of setting up such a committee in the first place and wasting everybody's time?

The sad fact is that committees have become just another way to manage the political repercussions of various crises without really doing very much to address them in real terms. Invariably, committees of this kind end up only perpetuating themselves -- more paper, more red tape, more to-ing and fro-ing. Sunday's meeting, to nobody's great surprise, recommended the setting up of a working group of professionals and experts which has, in turn, been mandated to set up a task force to prepare long-term plans for each calamity. There is, besides, the all-party committee on calamity management headed by NCP chairperson Sharad Pawar. Clearly, all this calls for another committee -- one designed to coordinate the activities of these various committees! At the end of a little more than three weeks -- a period when earth became a living hell for the people of Gujarat -- only the committees have proliferated, unfortunately, not people's welfare.

The ugly squabbling over the management of the Orissa cyclone seriously affected the smooth conduct of relief and rehabilitation in that state, thedeleterious effects of which are being felt even now, 16 months after that calamitous supercyclone. Gujarat needs to be spared this and that can only happen if politicians conduct themselves in a fashion that rises above bipartisan interests. This is, of course, easier said than done in a situation where the party in power, both in the state and at the Centre, is desperate to ensure that the main Opposition party does not gain politically from the earthquake. The main Opposition party, on the other hand, is wasting no occasion to embarrass the ruling party. And so it goes, this big fight that isn't doing anybody any good. While the president of the Congress highlights the discrimination in relief on grounds of religion, caste and political affiliation, the BJP chief minister and prime minister jointly rush to defend their record, instead of duly acknowledging the problems and promising to set them right. Politicians across the board must realise that the people are watching their antics and their patience isrunning low. It is not words and red tape that they need at the moment, but swift, concerted and effective action.