THE torrential rain that hit Goa and the Konkan coast in Maharashtra from July 24 onwards gave little indication of the ghastly events that would unfold the following week. Over a thousand people all over Maharashtra were killed and several went missing in an unprecedented monsoon fury. Thousands of people were marooned and lived without power, water, food or civic amenities for several days while the rain wrecked communication, and rail and road links.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said, on the basis of a preliminary assessment, that the State lost about Rs.9,000 crores. According to official figures, the floods affected about nine lakh families. To add to the State's problems, all dams in the areas that received heavy rainfall were full - about 80 to 100 per cent of reservoir capacity - making them potentially dangerous. About 3.50 lakh people were evacuated to safe destinations and of them 1.20 lakh have since returned to their homes in Konkan, Nanded, Parbhani, Yavatmal and Mumbai.
There were 2.30 lakh people in 244 camps in Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur. The situation in Sangli and Kolhapur was grim after water was discharged from the Koyna dam in Satara district following Karnataka's refusal to release water from the Almatti dam. Mumbai recorded 445 deaths, Thane city and district 216 and Raigad district 165. The toll could rise as more bodies are being recovered. Rain claimed over 160 lives in parts of Western Maharashtra, Konkan, Marathwada and Vidarbha.
Villages in Ratnagiri and Raigad districts in the Konkan region and the towns of Pen, Chiplun, Mahad, Panvel and Mangaon, were severely affected and virtually cut off. Road and rail traffic bore the brunt. Even two weeks later, train services remained suspended on some sections of the Central Railway as tracks were washed away. Power supply was a problem in some areas, though the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) managed to restore power to about 90 per cent of its consumers.
The government is still estimating the loss of crops. In the paddy growing areas, people are already replanting their crop. According to preliminary estimates, about 4.5 lakh hectares of agricultural land have suffered. Surveys will be conducted in the second week of August to finalise the exact extent of crop loss. About 3.5 lakh farmers in over 8,000 villages in 163 taluks have suffered. The worst-affected areas are in Raigad, Parbhani, Nanded, Kolhapur, Nashik, Akola and Yavatmal districts. An estimated 8,000 ha is affected in Thane district. Many villages and fields were flooded in the area around Bhiwandi, as nallahs had been blocked to build warehouses in Dapoda village. A 40-acre warehouse complex, which is under construction, had blocked crucial drainage systems, causing floods, alleged Shantaram Mhatre, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and joint secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).
The tragedy went beyond numbers as everywhere marooned people were left to fend for themselves. In many places, the administration could not respond promptly to the series of calamities that unfolded as communication links had broken down. Already there are protests in some parts of the State against the delay in the supply of relief.
On July 25, the rain's worst impact was felt in Jui village in Raigad district, about 180 km from Mumbai. About 100 people were buried alive when the hillside came crashing down on 43 houses at 8 p.m., a day before the deluge that swamped Mumbai. Jui, with a population of about 1,400, is located on the banks of the Nageshwari river. Mahad town, 15 km away, was devastated by floods.
In Jui's Marathwadi hamlet tonnes of stones and mud came down with a loud bang, leaving no chance of escape for its 100-odd residents. Maruti Devale and his family members were the only survivors from the hamlet. "It happened in less than three minutes," says Namdev Dhawande. Village residents said the place was cut off and a person swam across to another village for help. The whole area was flooded and boats were used to reach the village. Survivors took refuge in the local masjid and in other people's houses. The village school functioned as a relief camp for more than 300 people.
The recovery of bodies began only four days after the landslide. The relentless downpour hampered operations by the 11th Maratha Light Infantry and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Bulldozers were digging out the bodies after excavating 30 feet of mud. Around 40 bodies were recovered and given a mass burial; 98 people were believed to be trapped under the mud and search and recovery operations were continuing.
Several other areas in the Konkan region witnessed landslides. Across the Nageshwari, a landslide killed 14 people. In Kondivite, 36 people lost their lives. At Dasgaon, 20 km from Mahad, landslides killed nearly 50 people on the same day. Relief was slow in coming and like the people of Jui, those in Dasgaon, too, suffered because of a delayed rescue operation. However, communities responded in time by setting up relief kitchens and rescuing the people.
As the rains continued in the Konkan region, Thane and the surrounding towns and villages bore the brunt of the incessant downpour. Apart from Thane city, Badlapur, Kalyan, Mumbra, Diva, Vithalwadi, Titvala, Ambivli, Bhiwandi, Vasai, New Bombay and many rural areas were flooded with around 20 feet (nearly 7 metres) of water in many places. A landslide in New Bombay killed 12 people while a landslide in Thane claimed seven lives.
In many places, the Army was called out for rescue operations. The Kalyan township was flooded and people lived without power, water supply and basic amenities from July 26. Kalyan's five lakh residents were marooned. The absence of help from the government or the police led to protests in parts of Thane district. People blocked trains at Thane and Mumbra. Angry citizens in Kalyan vandalised the Municipal Corporation building. Civic services were absent and there was no evidence of a contingency or disaster management plan.
Four days after the floods, the markets of Kalyan were full of piles of rotting food and grains. Shopkeepers were turning out their sodden wares and leaving them on the road. There were impromptu sales of sodden clothes and umbrellas at cheap rates.
The town of Badlapur was no better off. Its low-lying areas were under water and even four days after the deluge people had no power and drinking water. They were using the water in overflowing nallahs to rinse utensils and wash clothes. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) provided food, clothes and water to people in these places. All the flats on the ground floor and in some cases even the first floor in many localities were submerged for two days. People had to grapple with mounds of filth, weeds, reptiles and garbage that came with the water.
BHIWANDI was another story. The town, which houses one-third of the country's powerloom industry and probably its largest warehousing complex, was wrecked beyond imagination. Over two and half lakh of the six lakh powerlooms in the town were damaged as most of them were submerged in over six feet ( two metres) of water for two days . Worse still was the plight of the migrant workers who lived in shanties near the powerloom sheds. Many huts were washed away and people sought shelter in relief camps that had sprung up all over Bhiwandi. Over 7,000 people were rescued from various places.
In the low- and middle-income housing colony built by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) in Bhiwandi, children are dying of the after-effects of the flooding. There has been no power here for two months owing to a faulty transformer. And 48 hours of flooding and lack of basic and civic amenities have rendered the population of 24,000 people helpless and frustrated. Snakes have entered the houses and one of the residents, Alauddin, said he had killed several. Fauzi Azmal Khan's wife is sick with vomiting and diarrhoea while Mohammed Arif lost his 10-year-old son Danish to suspected gastroenteritis. Two more of his children are ailing. Relief came over a week after the floods, but only those with ration cards received supplies. Many of the people had lost their ration cards in the rain.
Besides, as in Badlapur and other places, thieves looted the houses at night and took away what little belongings were left while people sought shelter elsewhere. However, though the municipal corporators and civic authorities were providing some relief in the form of food and water, the situation was grim even over a week after the disaster.
In the sprawling godowns on the outskirts of Bhiwandi, an estimated Rs.2,000 crores worth of goods have been destroyed. Many pharmaceutical majors, textile companies, transport and freight companies and small industries have their warehouses in the area and many of them suffered extensive losses. Goods are being ferried from other locations to fill in the huge gap in stocks. In the warehousing complexes, large mounds of destroyed cartons were being sorted out in the sheds, which had watermarks at a height of over two metres in some cases.
In the town of Mumbra, 50 km from Mumbai, 14 people died in the heavy rain. The rain caused a major landslide along the slopes below the Parsik hills that overlook the town. People living in the 20,000 hutments, precariously built on the steep hillside, were jolted on the night of July 26 by the rumble of boulders and a flood of water that gushed down the hillside. The homes were destroyed and seven people died. Here, too, boats were pressed into service to ferry food. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Sudhir Bhatankar said that over 500 dumpers, around 15 cranes and around 30 excavating machines were removing the mud washed down from the hills. The roads are a shambles and water and power supply are yet to be normalised.
A week after the disaster, the government announced relief measures which are now gaining momentum. However, the bulk of the work is still being carried out by NGOs and charitable organisations. According to Teesta Setalvad of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), relief is yet to reach the far-flung areas. Students or NGOs were running community kitchens in these places. It was not before August 4, almost two weeks after the rain began, that supplies reached people in places like Kalyan. The CJP is coordinating relief with local groups and individuals and sending supplies to the needy areas. There is a major demand for medicines and schoolbooks; medical teams are also being sent to various places, Teesta Setalvad said. The State government has sent 1,050 medical teams to flood-affected villages in rural Maharashtra.
Although the assessment of the damage is still in progress, it is clear that Maharashtra has suffered a devastating blow and people have suffered both mentally and physically. The apathy of the administration and the shock of being marooned for days without power, drinking water and food, and in many cases even shelter, have demoralised the people.
Even if relief measures are under way, the government cannot make up for its negligence or the large-scale loss of lives or property. Now is a good time as any to reassess the government's response and prepare a disaster management plan that is accountable to the public.
