Promises a plenty

While more than enough funds have been earmarked for the tsunami-hit in Kerala, there are allegations that the government is mixing dirty politics with relief

Jeemon Jacob Thiruvananthapuram

The tsunami victims in Kerala have something in plenty — promises. The government promised them new houses; new roads and bridges; sea walls on the coastal belt — and they believed all these promises. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured them all help when he visited relief camps in Kayamkulam and sanctioned Rs 245 crores to initiate relief activities. Mata Amrithanandamayee, the hugging Hindu sanyasin, offered them Rs 100 crore for reconstruction of houses. Political parties and youth organisations raised tsunami relief funds from all over the state and the media houses and television channels mobilised tsunami relief funds to help them. But the victims now realise that they cannot live on false promises alone. 

"Except for us, everybody else benefited from the tsunami. We lost everything and now we have to run from one place to another place begging," says Manonmani Sharangamani of Valiyazheeckal village in Alappuzha district of Kerala, where 38 persons died when the tidal waves hit. She has lost her house and two cousins and is now living in a temporary shelter provided by the government.

According to the Department for Disaster Management statistics, 170 persons died when the tsunami struck Kerala, while 1,629 persons were injured. 3,270 families lost their houses. The state government has given a compensation of Rs one lakh to the heirs of the dead and Rs 10,000 each to the injured. The assessment of damages of houses is going on.

"We have estimated the total loss at Rs 1,358.62 crore and submitted a detailed plan for central assistance to initiate developmental works in the tsunami-hit areas," reveals Revenue Minister K M Mani who heads the newly constituted Department for Disaster Management in the state. 

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy confirms that there is no shortage of funds in rehabilitating the tsunami-affected people of coastal Kerala. State Revenue Minister K M Mani said 17,000 houses that suffered partial damages, and 4,000 houses that were totally destroyed in the calamity, needed repairs and reconstruction, besides the replenishment of fishing infrastructure.

State Fisheries Minister Dominic Presentation said the fisheries sector had suffered a loss of Rs 140 crore. The government would provide compensation of up to 50 per cent to fisherfolk who lost their means of livelihood.

All these figures paint a picture of hope for tsunami victims. But to their dismay, things are not happening for them. "Thanks to the tsunami, the Revenue Department is going to benefit out of relief works. The disaster provided them with money and enough opportunities for corruption," says a senior bureaucrat who does not want to be quoted.

Meanwhile, he claims, the state government has declared 187 coastal villages as tsunami-affected to inflate the loss and grab maximum Central assistance. Many of these villages reported neither loss nor causalities.

"I fear that the government is looking at the tsunami as an opportunity to grab funds. Now all departments are competing against each other with schemes that are beneficial to contractors," says T J Anjalose, former Member of Parliament (MP) and state secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), trade union wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI).

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy refutes these allegations. "It's the Opposition who is mixing politics in tsunami. I've given clear instructions to the officials that the deserving persons should not be discriminated on political lines or caste basis. The government is trying its best to help the victims. But Opposition is making issues out of nothing for reasons known only to them. If they have complaints, they can very well talk to me and I will take actions against corrupt officials who divert funds," says the chief minister.

However, there is evidence that relief works are yet to gather momentum in Kerala even a month after the tragedy. "The government is acting without focus and priority. They should have focused on repairing damaged houses and rehabilitating the fisherfolk and provide a means of livelihood for them. Instead, it is

constructing seawalls in the coastal belt that will mutually benefit officials and contractors," says Advocate Ajikumar, a political activist from Kayamkulam. Like him, most victims are sceptical about the relief measures. But K V Thomas, former minister for fisheries, defends the government. He says the crosschecking mechanism has generated a lot of delays. "The government started construction of temporary shelters in the first week after the disaster and distributed compensation to the victims immediately after the tragedy took place. Kerala is one place where all the departments are involved in the relief measures," he explains.