Press Releases Archive

Dr.JP's Letter to P.M. on Flood Relief Help

Following is the text of a letter that Lok Satta Party President, Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan presented to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad to night today (9th Oct) on “Flood Relief Assistance”

9th October 2009
Hyderabad

To
Dr. Manmohan Singh
The Prime Minister of India

Esteemed Prime Minster Dr Manmohan Singh ji,

We are grateful to you for the prompt assistance provided by the Government of India to Andhra Pradesh following the unprecedented flood in the Krishna River, last week. Your Government’s assistance has greatly aided the immediate relief and rehabilitation efforts of the AP State Government.

Now, we earnestly urge you to examine and act upon the following five critical issues, as a part of the Union Government’s long-term reconstruction and flood management assistance to Andhra Pradesh:

  1. Resettlement of ‘lanka’ villages: The Krishna River’s lanka villages (situated on the river channels and close to the mouths of the river) are highly vulnerable to both riverine and coastal flooding. These villages should be relocated to suitable and safe locations nearby, to keep human settlements out of the flood path. As in the case of Godavari River’s lanka villages, agricultural activities could however be permitted to continue in these fertile but, low-lying and flood prone areas. The government’s Resettlement-and-Rehabilitation package for the State should fully and generously provide for the proper relocation of these lanka villages to safer areas.

  2. Creation of a permanent ‘National Disaster Relief Force’ at multiple locations: The recurring heavy floods to the mighty Godavari and Krishna rivers in Andhra Pradesh have seen the governmental relief measures taking some time to reach the affected peoples and areas. Therefore a contingent of ‘National Disaster Relief Force’ needs to be created on a permanent basis to provide effective emergency relief. This rapid-response Force should be manned by adequate numbers of fully trained emergency relief personnel and must be provided with the necessary equipment including motor boats and human flotation devices along with emergency medical supplies and ready-to-eat emergency food rations. Units of this Force could operate out of bases in Vijayawada, Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams (all on the Krishna River) and Rajahmundry (on the Godavari River), to provide rapid emergency relief to flood-affected regions.

  3. Flood-proofing the hydel power generation units: The long-term reconstruction package must provide for the flood-proofing of the hydroelectric power generation units on the right and left banks at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams on Krishna River. This package must also provide for the strengthening of the hydel power distribution infrastructure. These steps would greatly contribute towards ensuring that hydel power generation and distribution are not adversely affected during major flood events.

  4. Strengthening of the Krishna river bunds: Last week’s unprecedented flood of 25 lakh cusec-magnitude has severely exposed the structural limitations of the existing bunds on Krishna River (located downstream of the Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada), which were designed and constructed to handle floods of less than 10-11 lakh cusecs. The bunds’ structure should be greatly strengthened so that they can handle floods of much higher magnitude, of around 25 lakh cusecs. This project must be taken up in a time-bound manner, and needs to be completed within two years.

  5. Constitution of Expert Committees for flood mitigation and response to climate change:

    1. The Krishna River, which usually sees chronic shortages of water leading to frequent water sharing disputes, has now witnessed a flood of unprecedented magnitude. Last week’s flood underscores the importance of a scientific and timely decision-making process on the manner of storage and sharing of river flows, anticipation of riverine floods and mitigating floods including advance depletion of reservoirs. We therefore urge the Government of India to constitute an Empowered Expert Committee to institutionalize permanent and verifiable measures for real-time monitoring of rainfall-runoff patterns and river water levels at critical points and thereby take appropriate and timely decisions to mitigate future floods. Such a Committee could consist of domain experts drawn from the Central Water Commission (CWC), other concerned public agencies and academia, experts in disaster management and public officials of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

    2. Recent scientific evidence suggests a delay in the yearly onset of monsoonal rains, even as the intensity/severity of some individual rainfall events is increasing; the monsoon rainfall events too are perceived to have become more erratic and less consistent over the years. Any such long-term changes in the rainfall patterns would greatly impact Indian agriculture. Continental Europe has been experiencing advanced onset of its yearly spring and has undertaken a corresponding change in its agricultural practices.

    Given the unique water-use needs and water management practices of Indian agriculture, we need to undertake a rigorous scientific study on the impact of any long-term change in the monsoonal rainfall patterns, drawing upon global expertise in this field. Therefore, we urge you to constitute an Expert Committee to study climate change patterns in India and recommend appropriate modifications to current water management and agricultural practices.

Undertaking the above measures would greatly help prevent or mitigate future floods and establish sustainable water management practices. We therefore urge your government to take all necessary steps at the earliest by charting a time-bound programme, to achieve the above objectives.

We have great faith in your leadership.

With personal warm regards,

Sincerely,

Jayaprakash Narayan
President

Friday, October 9, 2009 - 21:26

Lok Satta pays tribute to Balagopal

The Lok Satta Party expressed its profound grief over the sudden death of Dr. K. Balagopal who had tirelessly fought for protection the rights of the downtrodden.

In a statement today, Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, Lok Satta Party President, pointed that although Balagopal had every opportunity to lead a life of ease and comfort, he had spent his life to wipe the tears of the poor who are in a majority.

“It takes many years for a man like Balagopal to emerge. He had utilized his multi-faceted talents to protect the rights of fellow- humanbeings”.

“He educated the public about the Indian Constitution which guaranteed equal growth opportunities to everybody and treated even the last man as a sovereign. He relentlessly fought to make the traditional rulers and elite sections to recognize the existence of the common man. The uncompromising struggle he had led even as he stuck to basic principles and values should be a source of inspiration for the younger generation” Dr. JP said.

Dr. JP calledon the family of Balagopal and conveyed his deep condolence on behalf of the Lok Satta Party.

Friday, October 9, 2009 - 16:34

Dr. JP seeks white paper on flood havoc

Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today demanded the publication of a white paper on the floods in the Krishna River which devastated parts of the State to facilitate an honest and open debate and the creation of an institutional mechanism for the orderly release of water from storage reservoirs.

Talking to the media, Dr. JP said that the white paper should contain details of hourly rain forecasts by the met office, precipitation in catchment areas, Central Water Commission warnings or alerts, water floods as various points in Krishna, Tungabhadra, Handri and Kundu rivers, reservoir levels, and the hourly release of water from the reservoirs in the Krishna basin.

The publication of a white paper would help resolve the political controversy the floods have triggered with some arguing that they are made man-made and some others attributing them to nature’s fury.

In the context of the Prime Minister’s impending visit to the State, Dr. JP asked the Government of Andhra Pradesh to seek Central assistance for a long-term reconstruction program. It should include flood-proofing power generation centers and systemic improvements in power distribution and strengthening of Krishna river bunds to withstand heavy inflows of more than 20 lakh cusecs of water.

The Government of India should also appoint a commission to study the changes in the weather pattern as was evident from delayed monsoons and heavy rainfall in a short period. The crop seasons may have to undergo a radical restructuring if we have to live with a change in the weather pattern.

Dr. JP demanded that the Government close down all licensed and unauthorized liquor outlets in the flood affected areas at least for two months so that the poor do not squander assistance they receive from the Government and NGOs on liquor consumption. The Government can reimburse the license fee to the bidders for the period the shops do not operate since the loss of revenue would be minimal. According to reports received at the party headquarters, liquor shops in the flood-hit areas are having roaring business.

The Government, he suggested, should take up relocation of ‘lanka’ villages away from the river bed when it took up reconstruction of houses.

The Lok Satta President wanted the Government to set aside usual revenue norms for extending immediate relief to the victims. Since the areas inundated villages are in a defined geographic area, swift, generous and universal relief should be extended. Enumeration of the flood-affected households would result in delays, partisanship, heartburn and even corruption. The affected families in all the districts would not exceed 200,000. Since 90 percent of the families in the State have white cards, provision of relief to another 10 percent of people should not cost the Government much.

Let not flood relief be undertaken as the cloud seeding has been, Dr. JP said referring to the attempts at precipitating rains in the cyclone/flood hit areas in the midst of heavy rains on September 29th and 30th, and October 2nd. This shows how the left hand in government does not know what the right hand is doing. The Government should clearly tell NGOs what people badly needed and the areas that need help. People are in need of fresh blankets, bed sheets, saris, utensils, cans for water and kerosene, lanterns or torch lights and dry rations and students, textbooks and notebooks.

Dr. JP congratulated Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan who had shared the Nobel prize in Chemistry and said the NRI did India proud and testified to the intellectual prowess of Indians. India could provide many Nobel laureates if we create the right environment for talent to flourish.

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 17:21

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