By RK Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi
Now, let’s come to public response and government initiative that took place with the recent Kosi flood in Bihar. The government ordered PSUs to adopt villages, banks and media started collecting funds from public and what not, to assuage the pain of the people suffered in the flood. I doubt whether such promptness and alacrity is shown on the part of the government or public institution when flood hit the Barak valley. Well, relief measures do take place, but it is forgotten the time flood recedes from the verandah of the home. It is not that we don’t have any empathy towards the flood affected people in Bihar. We seek the same response, that’s all.
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You type in the Google browser – Silchar flood – you will find nothing substantial information. You can say there is nothing, absolutely nothing where you can fix your eyeballs. Now the question is, why Google’s best search engine in the world, is failing to bring relevant links on the keyword ‘silchar flood’? The answer is: Because nobody has felt it to write. The loss of property worth of crores and suffering of localites (Bishnupriya Manipuri, Bengalis, Assamese, Meitai Manipuri etc.) means nothing. It is as simple as it is seen on the search page.
A Google Earth view of the Silchar town reveals about its topography. It is surrounded by the Barak River criss-crossing the town. Angriness of the Rain God for few days brings the town not only cut-off from the rest of the country but mayhem on the neighboring villages. Villages go down the water; people are shifted to schools and makeshift camps, army is given order to carry out relief measures and blah-blah, are some of the packaged news that come pouring out from the Barak valley.
The word ‘flood’ has gone so down to the lexicon of the people’s tongue, that they don’t see or remember it. You can say, flood is not new to them. It has become the part of their life. Personally I have witnessed many times, one which that had really frightened me and split my blood cells, took place in the early 90’s. I with my father took a boat from Srikona to Panchgram! We were absolutely sailing over villages. The flood mitigated any signs of the villages; whether it belongs to Bishnupriya Manipuri or Bengali community or Hindu or Muslim religion. The rage of flood was equal everywhere.
The word ‘flood’ has gone so down to the lexicon of the people’s tongue, that they don’t see or remember it. You can say, flood is not new to them. It has become the part of their life. Personally I have witnessed many times, one which that had really frightened me and split my blood cells, took place in the early 90’s. I with my father took a boat from Srikona to Panchgram! We were absolutely sailing over villages. The flood mitigated any signs of the villages; whether it belongs to Bishnupriya Manipuri or Bengali community or Hindu or Muslim religion. The rage of flood was equal everywhere.
Now, let’s come to public response and government initiative that took place with the recent Kosi flood in Bihar. The government ordered PSUs to adopt villages, banks and media started collecting funds from public and what not, to assuage the pain of the people suffered in the flood. I doubt whether such promptness and alacrity is shown on the part of the government or public institution when flood hit the Barak valley. Well, relief measures do take place, but it is forgotten the time flood recedes from the verandah of the home. It is not that we don’t have any empathy towards the flood affected people in Bihar. We seek the same response, that’s all.Please subscribe to the blog. More stories on Silchar will appear again.
Yes we do have sympathy with the people of Bihar but center's concern for them do create some doubt in the minds of the people of Assam regarding the step-motherly behavior of the central government towards the state. We face such problems year after year but there is no such concern for us. People are home less,cattle die, people die, every year but everything goes unnoticed. The government and even the media who run after small small issues find nothing of much concern. May be it is the lack on the part of our Chief Minister who have passed the statement that the flood situation in Assam is till now not in such a bad state that it should take help from the centre. What more does Gogoida want when he says Assam flood situation is not yet in bad shape. He should have been clear with his statement so that it would be easier for us to understand. Does our honorable chief minister ever been to such places. Sitting on a copter and having a glimpse from the heaven does not reveal the real pain and agony of the people. We have faced it when year after year our houses submerge in water from weeks, when we have to start everything afresh and the same thing repeats the next year. But whom to tell the story when everyone turns a deaf ear.
ReplyDeleteConcerning post friend. Thanx.......
Flood creates havoc every year in Assam affecting lives and livestock but it is never a national calamity. Worlds largest river Island Majuli is in the brink of being submerged forever but our nation has more pressing national issue than bother about a lousy island.
ReplyDeleteMay be we need to have a state sponsored policy of showcasing more internally displaced people, hungry people, poor people to get registered in the national psyche. But sadly even in our poverty, we are way too dignified to portray our miseries.
May be Govt. of Assam should allow some more pathetic Bangladeshi illegals to infiltrate in Assam. You never know when a malnutrition inflicted Bangladeshi kid can capture the attention of a National Geographic lensman and our cause could be known to the whole wide world.
Anyway, once again the curse of flood afflicted us this year and around three million people were reported to be affected in Assam.
So WTF!
Three million people in Bihar were affected by Kosi and the whole of Delhi went topsy turvy. I put on the radio, it was Bihar; I put on the TV, it was Bihar; I open a Newspaper, it's all Bihar. I go to office and I had to part with few bucks of my hard earned money for a Bihar Relief fund.
I wondered WTF. Maybe we should rename our state as Bihar.
It is noobody's fault except the representative of the people who are based in delhi, live the life of parasite and hopeless. One thing is clear a mother gives milk to her child only when the baby cries. have you evern seen any minister sitting in the front row of loksabha. the only face we have seen so far is P A Sangma and sometime Santosh Mohan Dev. And they are not political heavyweight like Laloo Prasad Yadav. if you want to concern your voice you have be media savvy without it you literally cant do anything. this are the reason which i think is responsible for putting bihar's flood situation ahead of assam's.
ReplyDelete