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| Tragedy on the hills | | Focus on rescue and relief | |
DEATH and destruction have
wreaked havoc in
Uttarakhand as we witness a monumental tragedy unfold in the wake of the floods following torrential rain last week. Hundreds of lives have been lost, many more people are missing even as tens of thousands of pilgrims and other visitors have been rescued and brought to safety. There has been a massive deployment of personnel from the Army, the Air Force, the National Disaster Response Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Roads Organisation, and other Central and state organisations. They all have put in tremendous effort to help those in need, and in repairing the infrastructure, especially roads, to enable more effective and swift evacuation of stranded people.
Tragedies bring out the best and the worst in people. As they faced the fury of nature, strangers thrown together by circumstances worked with each other for their mutual safety. Indeed, there have been many heart-warming stories of how stranded people reached out to those less able and of the assistance provided by locals to tourists. On the other hand, there have been some reports of scalping as some people exploited the hungry and the needy.
Unfortunately, some political leaders have not been able to rise to the occasion and have treated the tragedy as yet another theatre to engage in petty politicking. Visits by VIPs to disaster-struck areas distract the security agencies from their primary duty of rescue and relief. There have been cases of one-upmanship in issuing statements about how various state governments had helped the victims. Some sections of the media have focused too much on providing high numbers regarding deaths, or in reporting the ghastly details. The need of the hour is to steadfastly keep an eye on the rescue and relief operations and to support the personnel engaged in them. Yes, the tragedy has forced us to re-examine how the fragile ecology of the Himalayas has been exploited in the name of development, and at what horrendous cost. Indeed, we have to look at why such ‘development’ was allowed, and how to regulate the number of pilgrims according to the capacity of the various shrines and other important destinations. Accountability must be fixed for the lapses that have obviously occurred, but right now the focus should not be allowed to shift as thousands of jawans battle with difficult terrain to save their fellow citizens, even as the impending rain makes their task more urgent. |
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