Ghost dams

Some years ago I wrote an article in a magazine about how sustained leakage of development
funds meant for building embankments along rivers in eastern Uttar Pradesh to stop floods during the monsoon season spawns a class of disaster capitalists who bankroll politicians and bureaucrats. I gave the example of how chit fund companies of eastern UP acquired leaven due to the ill gotten funds parked by the venal class of overseers and public works engineers. Politicians, too, benefited from this continuous flow of funds and patronised these companies. Sahara, which recently decided to withdraw from chit fund or residuary non-banking finance businesses, benefited enormously from the rise in prosperity of a new class of petty bureaucrats and politicians in this region. A former chief minister of the state, Vir Bahadur Singh, was credited to be close to this group. Sahara later became extremely influential and cash rich. Once when it was sent a notice by the Income Tax department for alleged tax evasion, it issued paid advertisements in most of the national dailies naming many of the top Union ministers and bureaucrats that had deposits with them. Needless to say, the finance ministry or Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT) did not have the courage to follow up on that notice. Instead the officer who dared to send that notice was transferred out.

The purpose of writing about the leakage of funds from building dams was not meant to write about Sahara or about venal politicians, but to highlight how corruption is lowering disaster preparedness and increasing the vulnerability of a large number of hapless people. Year after year, crores of funds are allotted to raise the size of the dams - that many times do not exist. These ghost dams are supposed to stop real floods, but they do nothing except fatten bank accounts of public servants and contractors. This disturbing reality finds corroboration again and again, year after year. Every time there are rains or cyclones, misery and death stares.

This time around the dam circuiting river Kosi cracked when subjected to heavy rains and silt from the mountains. Interestingly, this was not unexpected. Googling Kosi river throws up thousands of stories and links of varying vintage. Some of these reports that have been written two years ago detail the shaky nature of the dam and how it could crumble if precipitation is higher than normal. Would it be wrong to assume that the lethargy and ennui displayed by successive Bihar governments since the 1960s when the dam began to routinely breach was driven by criminal venality? Would it not be prudent on the part of the state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to fix the blame on individuals who were responsible for this great human tragedy? Furthermore, would it not be in order for him to revisit the reasons behind earlier floods and subsequent relief efforts to find out what went wrong then and figure out whether the lessons were absorbed by the state's bureaucracy?

A careful study of the disasters that have struck different parts of the country would show that some states respond better to adversities and others perform abysmally. Tamil Nadu's reaction to the Tsunami was far better than what is witnessed in different parts. Similarly, the government's response to the Latur and Bhuj earthquake was prompt and better than what we have witnessed in other parts. The key issue in how societies respond to disasters is closely linked to where they stand on the corruption index. Transparency International's latest report would show how corrupt UP and Bihar are. It is impossible to get any work done till public servants are amply greased. Every disaster provides an opportunity for leaders to set new benchmarks of governance and ensure that thousands of crores that the centre has given to states are spent judiciously. Besides bringing transparency in spending, governments should also bother about the quality of public goods that they provide to the people. If closer public scrutiny and increased public accountability could be brought into disaster preparedness or ramping up of development projects then it could be a big step forward in cleaning up politics and fighting criminals who corner many of these government projects. It could surely be the beginning of ridding bad money from politics.