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V.Balasubramani
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[h=1]Firstpost Investigation: Were the Chennai floods a government-made disaster?[/h]
Firstpost spent a week reporting from Chennai during the floods, during which time former bureaucrats, environmentalists, urban planners and citizens suggested that the city’s administration was to blame for the disaster. Inquiries revealed that these complaints bore merit: A comprehensive development plan for Chennai, which was submitted to the government in 2009, was prescient in its understanding of what could befall a city groaning under the burden of ultra-rapid development. The recommendations contained in this report, prepared by a former bureaucrat, were ignored by the Corporation of Chennai (CoC).
This report is the first of two articles that investigate the findings of the report and the city administration’s lapses. The second part will appear on Tuesday and be accompanied by an analysis of the report, by AK Roy, senior fellow, Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory, Shiv Nadar University.
Before the deluge in Chennai earlier this month, after being warned of heavy rainfall, the civic authorities decided to release water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir on the outskirts into the Adyar river.
Since more than 500 mm rainfall was predicted over 1 and 2 December, bringing down the level of water in the reservoir from 22 to 18 feet — so that it could absorb the downpour — appeared to be a viable solution. Since the Adyar was also comparatively dry because of scanty rainfall before November, the authorities were convinced that the water could be successively diverted with this pre-emptive measure.
Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/india/firs...loods-a-government-made-disaster-2544516.html
Firstpost spent a week reporting from Chennai during the floods, during which time former bureaucrats, environmentalists, urban planners and citizens suggested that the city’s administration was to blame for the disaster. Inquiries revealed that these complaints bore merit: A comprehensive development plan for Chennai, which was submitted to the government in 2009, was prescient in its understanding of what could befall a city groaning under the burden of ultra-rapid development. The recommendations contained in this report, prepared by a former bureaucrat, were ignored by the Corporation of Chennai (CoC).
This report is the first of two articles that investigate the findings of the report and the city administration’s lapses. The second part will appear on Tuesday and be accompanied by an analysis of the report, by AK Roy, senior fellow, Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory, Shiv Nadar University.
Before the deluge in Chennai earlier this month, after being warned of heavy rainfall, the civic authorities decided to release water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir on the outskirts into the Adyar river.
Since more than 500 mm rainfall was predicted over 1 and 2 December, bringing down the level of water in the reservoir from 22 to 18 feet — so that it could absorb the downpour — appeared to be a viable solution. Since the Adyar was also comparatively dry because of scanty rainfall before November, the authorities were convinced that the water could be successively diverted with this pre-emptive measure.
Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/india/firs...loods-a-government-made-disaster-2544516.html