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There is no way to predict a natural calamity. But, had the Kerala Government been responsive to the report of the Gadgil committee on the fragility of the state’s Western Ghats seven years ago, the devastation would have been contained, if not averted. Deputed to lead a nine-member Central committee on environmental protection, ecologist Madhav D Gadgil was stationed in Kerala for a year to gather information on the biodiversity hotspot, be the link between government bodies and civil society and develop a spatial database. The report was clear: natural exploitation, wanton construction and mining had to be regulated. Expectedly, political and business considerations took precedence, leading to the dilution of the Gadgil report by another panel headed by K Kasturirangan, a scientist, no less.
The people of Kerala were forced to pick the tab. The state is a picture of ruin: the toll since the onset of the monsoon is close to 400; lakhs have been displaced; thousands are in refugee camps. Habitations along the banks have taken the maximum hit. Why were they allowed to come up in the floodplains? Today it is Kerala, tomorrow it could be another state. (Goa may be next, Gadgil has warned.) Akshardham in Delhi and the contiguous CWG Village were ‘allowed’ to come up in the floodplains, against conventional astuteness. Nothing was learnt from the raving floods in Uttarakhand and J&K. Heavy rains recently left a trail of destruction in Himachal Pradesh. But for the brazen abuse of nature, the loss would have been limited.
The right noise is made at the right time, but is soon forgotten. Development yes, but at what cost? Nature’s fury is often a direct outcome of man’s insatiable rapacity. Red alert has been lifted off in Kerala. But the wheel of misery will keep turning till profit is the propellant. The governments should pay more attention to the National Green Tribunal and the sagacity of ecologists and environmentalists, who should be roped in to identify fragile zones. Their word should be final. There is wisdom in hindsight, and unless the lesson is kept, we will be condemned to suffer again and again.