Subject: Gujarat Earthquake Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 14:51:26 +0530 Organ of Socialiast Unity Centre of India (SUCI) Vol. 34 No.12 February 15, 2001 ______________________________ =20 Gujarat Earthquake Stench Of Filthy Politics Fails To Destroy Fragrance Of Humanity The earthquake in Kutchh of Gujarat in Western India left death and ruin = in a catastrophic devastation on its trails. From amid the rubble, = bodies and cries emerge two tales in the sharpest contrast of dark and = light - of the prowling steps of political hounds, and of the = outstretched hands of people, the stench of the filthiest politics = failing to destroy the fragrance of humanity.=20 The state BJP government did claim in the beginning to have started = relief and rescue operation on a war footing. Almost two weeks after the = quake hit, victims in more than a thousand villages await minimum of = help. The government claims that the law and order situation is under = control, but homeless and hungry survivors in many areas are victims of = attacks by armed gangsters who loot them of whatever little they could = salvage from debris and the foodstuff given by volunteer organizations. = Angry people gheraoed the visiting Union Home Minister and BJP leader, = L.K. Advani, accusing the government of gross neglect and demanding = protection against armed looters. Nobody knows how many thousands now lie trapped and buried under debris = of collapsed houses. Debris cannot be cleared, the injured cannot be = taken to the hospital, any survivors cannot be saved, nor rotting = corpses can be removed, because the government has pretext to offer that = vital equipment like cranes, gas powered concrete cutters, bulldozers = and ambulances are in short supply. This government of the much trumpted = richest state of India, that is Gujarat, as also the BJP-led central = government which is all keen to demonstrate the Indian state's military = powers in nuclear arms and rocket delivery system cannot procure these = vital equipment but have the temerity to claim they did launch rescue = operation on a war-footing! Proud of spending most of the money extorted = from the people through taxation and price hike to meet the enormity of = military budget and build a hi-tech communication and information = technology system with the aim of augmenting the state power, Atal = Behari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister, could tell without qualms that the = government lacks adequate preparation to meet calamity situations like = that of Gujarat quake and Orissa super-cyclone. Unbelievable it may sound but the Gujarat BJP government has made short = supply of vital equipment a plea to call off rescue operations. The army = and civil authority are using explosives to pull down damaged buildings. = And this in the face of the fact that in Ahmedabad itself, six days = after the quake, a 25 year old woman and her 2 year old son were brought = out alive by a rescue team. Instances are known of people having been = rescued in the past in this country and abroad even after weeks from = under debris, flooded mines, or inundated areas. Civilized governments = call it a norm to explore all conceivable means till such time as will = ensure rescue of any possible survivors and removal of bodies of the = dead. Till accomplishment of this objective, they use other means to = prevent damaged structures from collapse and will think of using = explosives only at the end of it all. But with these governments and = these political leaders no savage decision is inhuman enough to induce = the humane sense to try and save at all costs even if it be a single = life.=20 In the fitness of its conduct and attitudes, therefore, this government = tries to put death tolls at figures that can only excite laughter even = amid the gloom of Gujarat. Keshubhai Patel, the chief minister, will not = allow the official figure of death to cross 25000 despite the palpable = scene of all round devastation. Whereas the union Defense Minister, = George Fernandes assesses the figure at 1,00,000 at least. And the = International Red Cross estimates the toll at 50,000. Where denial of = responsibility is reckoned a privilege of power, no wonder the = government will be guided by the convenient unscruple to employ means to = wipe off evidence of the actual toll and pay compensation much less than = it is legally and morally bound.=20 When hunger and deprivation drive people to demand of the rulers = fulfillment of their minimal needs for life, the muscle of the state is = on immediate evidence and the governmental machinery rapidly gears to = let loose repression on the masses. Where is that machinery now to = discharge its constitutional obligation to help people in need? Where is = the will to save life, arrange medical care, restore supply of drinking = water and electricity, prevent outbreak of epidemic, and rehabilitate = those thousands whose shelter is the sky, food is rumour and solace is = in tears? But response was immediate from people from every part of the country to = stand by the victims with relief and whatever possible. Teams from = several foreign countries have arrived with materials and equipment = needed for relief and rescue. But portable operation theatres and = equipment cannot function, as there is no electricity. Food, drinking = water and medicines have piled up because there is no organization for = distribution. Trained sniffer dogs have been brought to trace survivors = under debris but the rescuers do not know where to go or whom to report = to. Whereas, planeloads of ministers and political highups are arriving = each day from the Centre and the States. Assurance comes in galore for = assistance, and promises are held out for reconstruction, rehabilitation = and a national centre for calamity management, as if words are food and = promises are rehabilitation by themselves. Cheated, deprived and in = despair; people have started gheraoing government officials, demanding = food, medicine and shelter. Even so, despite the design of the rulers pursued over decades to = degrade all sense of morals in people, disunite them on religion, caste = and region, and instigate one section against another, the calamity has = brought out the bright silver lining of people's role over the dark = cloud of performance of the government and the political gangsters. = Muslim youths in large numbers, who have not slept since the quake hit = on 26 January, are camping on hospital premises to donate blood but for = which the lives of many victims of other religions could not have been = saved. Christian youths are similarly donating blood and reaching people = in distant parts with relief material. This is reality in resplendence = in a state where majority-religion fundamentalists, the preachers of = Hindutva belonging to saffron brigade with direct patronage of the state = government, continue savage assaults on minority community people and = government circulars seek to deny minority people some basic rights. = Where, at this moment of colossal human sufferings, RSS and BJP cadres = are claiming all government relief material to distribute these on = nakedly communal lines in the name of their own organizations and = obstructing other organizations and parties from carrying out relief = operation. Blood does not discriminate religion, that is why, Muslim = blood saves lives of injured Hindus. Nor does food discriminate, that is = why Christians' food gives life to Hindus. But political motivation = behind religious fundamentalism does it. And the hour of crisis in = Gujarat reveals that people stand by people irrespective of race, = religion and region; it is the political design of the rulers to keep = people divided on divisive lines. A question here haunts the critical mind. Was damage to life and = property inevitable on this scale? An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 on the = Richter scale, which is said to have occurred in Gujarat, means in = physical terms that all poorly built buildings will be destroyed but = little damage to specially designed structures. In Ahmedabad nearly 150 = recently built high-rises have collapsed, whereas industrial structures = and many old buildings have withstood. The case only points out that the = damaged buildings were designed and built in gross violation of the = rules of the national building code. Gujarat, especially Kutchh, is = however earthquake prone, no fewer earthquakes of lesser magnitudes = rocking it every year. It has openly come out in the media that the = promoters, who built these buildings in disregard to the rules to mint = fabulous money at the immeasurable cost of human life and property, had = patronage of ministers, political leaders and government officials. With = criticism mounting every day the government has at last started talking = of measures to be taken against offending promoters, obviously as a = show-off to people and to hide the nexus between promoters, political = leaders, police and administration.=20 It is reported that an advance warning of the earthquake was sent to the = central government. Was any action taken on it for checking and follow = it up? Has the government, at the Center as also in any of the states, = taken any action worth the name towards preparation in advance to meet = calamity situations like cyclone, earthquake, floods, drought and the = like? But every year in one part or another it is for the people to = suffer one or another of natural calamities. And every time after a = calamity hits it is for the government to tell the people that these = strikes from nature are but the strokes of fate whose burden is to be = shouldered together. Scientists are carrying on research on national = hazards, including earthquake, to develop means of prediction and = prevention. Man has to travel long before he can come to grip with these = blind forces of nature. Human history is testimony to how man has = succeeded in the past to harness some of the forces for social = advancement. It is, therefore, not for him to resign to fate but to = explore ways of fighting blind natural forces, the prolific hazard of = earthquake included.=20 No matter its performance in relief, rescue and rehabilitation of the = victims, the state BJP government has been quick enough to calculate the = damage at Rs.25000 crore (1 crore =3D 10 millions) and more. The central = government led by the BJP, on its part, see in this situation an = opportune moment to exploit the countrywide sympathy over quake = devastation and to pass the entire burden on the people's shoulder. = During Orissa super-cyclone, when they were in the opposition in that = state, they played with whether the Constitution provided for any such = term as a national calamity. In the case of West Bengal, where too they = are in the opposition, they played with words when severe floods = inundated 9 districts and affected millions, to deny their = responsibility. Being in government in Gujarat they have a different = stake. The BJP has, therefore, utilized the central governmental = machinery to issue an ordinance, bypassing the parliament scheduled to = meet in 20 days' time, to impose an additional surcharge of 2% on income = taxes. In actual terms, this burden will pass on to the common people in = the end. The central government also contemplates to deduct 5% of salary = of all government employees to the same end and the Prime Minister is = repeatedly hinting at harsher budgets to follow soon. But match this = punitive tax on the people with the magnitude of tax evasion to the tune = of Rs.62000 crore which major industrial houses of the country enjoy as = a privilege with impunity. The government also plans to take 'soft' = loans of US$1.5 billion from the Asian Development Bank. Recall here the = attitude of China, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, towards foreign = help, which came in galore in the aftermath of an earthquake. China gave = thanks for the sympathy shown but refused to accept relief, only to = depend on the initiative of the Chinese people to face the calamity. The issue of earthquake calamity in Gujarat is water muddy enough for = the parliamentary parties and bourgeois political leaders to fish in. = The group rivalry in the BJP in Gujarat has nakedly come wide open, the = plight of the quake victims coming as a ready handle for the state's = anti-Keshubhai BJP faction to press their claim to governmental power by = removing the chief minister. The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi has = made harsh criticism of the BJP government for failure in handling = relief and rescue operations. She may do it, but the question cannot be = avoided as regards what her party government did when the super-cyclone = hit Orissa about one and a half year back. So low has gone down the = credibility of all these governments, controlled by whichever of the = parliamentary parties; that the government employees in Rajasthan have = decided to donate a day's salary to the quake-hit victims of Gujarat = only after a written assurance from the Ashok Ghelot-led Congress = government that the money would be spent on the victims only and not for = any other purpose. The suspicion arises because people have been kept in = the dark regarding the huge sums of money collected through Kargil tax. = People cannot also forget that cess on oil imposed during the Gulf War = is still in force even so many years after the war ended. In the midst of this filthy politics, where bourgeois political leaders = and parliamentary parties thrive on people's helpless sufferings and = seek to cash in on every issue public sympathy for electoral gains, the = right thinking people ought to view everything from the standpoint of = people's interest and on the anvil of people's interest. The situation = warrants this, this first and foremost. 2. Glimpses of Situation in Gujarat and a Brief Report of our Relief = Work Immediately after the devastating earthquake in Gujarat on 26th January = last, Comrade Nihar Mukherjee, the General Secretary of our party while = expressing profound grief and conveying his heartfelt condolence to the = bereaved families appealed to the people to stand by the people of = Gujarat in this hour of crisis. At the call of Comrade Mukherjee = different state units of the party and mass organizations came forward = and sent doctors, medicines, volunteers, relief materials and donations = to Gujarat. Money, medicine, blanket, warm clothings, baby food, general = volunteers, sugar, drinking water, rice, wheat etc. have been rushed = from different states. Doctors' teams from Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi, MP, = West Bengal, Chandigarh, Punjab among other states have rushed to the = spots. These teams include Plastic surgeons, Anaesthetists, Orthopaedic = surgeons, General Physicians, paramedical staff, nursing staff and other = volunteers. The volunteers from Gujarat worked day and night and = rendered service, which is practically unthinkable. Though our party has = mobilized maximum volunteers and resources as per the strength of the = party yet it must be admitted that our relief work is not more than a = drop of water in a vast sea when compared with the actual requirement. The task is indeed daunting. The earthquake has affected 3.5 crore = people in Gujarat state. 13 districts have been seriously affected and = the most affected district is Kutchh. Many cities, towns and villages = are completely devastated. The death toll in Kutchh alone must be around = one lakh (0.1 million) and the total death toll for entire Gujarat state = is more than 1,10,000. The government is hiding the number of deaths to = avoid the responsibility of compensation. The loss of property even = according to the official estimate is worth about 25 thousand crore of = rupees. In Bhuj, Bhachau and Anjar every house has collapsed. Lakhs of = people were injured, and thousands of children have been rendered = orphans.=20 The most anti-people character of the BJP government of Gujarat and the = BJP-led central government has been nakedly exposed in their total = apathy to the distress of the victims and failure in tackling the = situation after the earthquake on war-footing. Rescue operations totally = failed. In Ahmedabad the BSF and Rapid Action Force were deployed, but = they do not know anything about rescue operation. The military was = deployed in only Kutchh but it was ill equipped. They had no proper = machinery and equipment for the rescue operation. So the military, too, = failed in the operation. Due to bureaucratic hassles a good number of = foreign teams could not reach the appropriate spots immediately. The = deadbodies are lying under the debris even now. Government failed in = giving emergency medical treatment to the people of Kutchh. Even on 10th = February there is only a military hospital with 100 beds in Kutchh. The = government had not provided temporary rehabilitation or tents to the = people. The people are living under the sky, and no free kitchen has = been started by the government. No compensation for death has been = received by any people. The government machinery totally failed in = rescue and relief operations.=20 In such a situation a large number of common people from all over = Gujarat and other states of India came forward spontaneously to extend = their helping hand to the affected people. But the BJP government wants = to spoil this spontaneous response and initiative of the people, and is = trying to show that only the RSS volunteers are working. The myth is = being created that relief materials are in excess. But this is farthest = from the truth. Whatever little relief is in supply is being distributed = on communal and caste line. Minority communities and socially backward = communities are the worst sufferers.=20 In such a situation the SUCI took a plunge in rescue and relief work = right from the day of the occurrence of the devastating earthquake. On = 30th January a strong contingent of the SUCI volunteers was sent to = establish a camp in Bhachau, 350 km away from Ahmedabad. An emergency = medical camp was set up at Bhachau Taluk where outdoor and indoor = medical treatment for 24 hours was arranged from 1st February. A relief = work base camp was also set up there. Medical Service Centre from = different states came forward and helped the injured and the affected = patients almost in every house in these areas - Bhachau, Anjar and Rapar = and their surroundings and distant villages. >From 2nd February the party has taken up immense relief work. With = stones from demolished walls, a hospital was built up in Bhachau. Nine = tents were set up, five for medical relief and four for other material = relief. Collected relief materials from different states were = distributed in Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar areas of Bhuj district. More = than 25 villages were covered. Names of some of the villages covered are = : Dhamadka, Dhujodi, Kukama, Bagathala and Khervalia. It may be pointed out in this connection that the NGOs and other = voluntary organizations which are getting wide media coverage are = concentrating their work mostly in urban areas, but remote villages are = by and large not covered by these organizations. The mobile medical vans of MSC have been going to the remotest villages = for assessing the requirements of the people. Tents, blankets, woolen = clothes, grains and milk powder, etc., are being distributed in = different villages. Medical relief and other reliefs are still going on. = But whatever relief is given by the party volunteers and other voluntary = organizations are much less than the actual requirement of the people. = Since the need of the people is enormous and the relief work spread over = a large area requires to be supplemented further, relief operation will = have to be continued for a good length of time. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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