Development and Disaster Management by Amita Singh Milap Punia Nivedita P. Haran & Thiyam Bharat Singh

Author:Amita Singh, Milap Punia, Nivedita P. Haran & Thiyam Bharat Singh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Singapore, Singapore

Loss in Opportunity Cost and Its Consequences

This brings us to the issue of loss in opportunity. The amount spent on the dam construction was, of course, the obvious loss from the public exchequer. The loss by way of the unsown crops, the small trades that could not be set up and most tragically, the generation that grew up on the hope that the dam would help them get employment, that loss cannot even be assessed. It would run into hundreds of crores. Moreover, Manipur has been a disturbed region. It is also a region that is vulnerable to natural disasters. One of the crucial ways to address the issue of local community-based and ethnic disputes is to ensure development of the area. With good social and economic infrastructure, the factional disputes get dissolved. All kids can go to school, the population has proper housing with water supply and power, there are adequate avenues for gainful employment and there are hospitals and hotels. The coming up of the dam project raised expectancy amongst the people, of jobs, of better infrastructure and resulting peace in the area. But their hopes were belied. The disappointment and dejection in the eyes of the locals when they talk of the dam is starkly visible. Further, far from being able to discourage and discontinue Jhum cultivation, Jhum has continued with greater vigour. The saving of forests has not taken place. The hills around the dam reservoir are proof of this; they stand completely denuded with only scrub and wild weeds growing.

Standing on the banks of the reservoir, as one takes stock of the surroundings, one can visualize how picturesque the area would have been with its virgin forests, pristine river and the fabulous flora and fauna. It was no less than a paradise on earth. If only the lives of the inhabitants could be improved with some basic infrastructure: a few roads, disaster-resilient electrified houses for all, potable water in their taps and water to irrigate their fields. That’s what ‘the babus promised us’ says old grandpa with unseeing eyes dull with cataract, who lost a major part of his land and now is too old to go into the forest to collect firewood and is left with no land to till. There is no record to show any action taken against the engineers who designed or supervised the implementation of the project, the civil servants who failed to fix responsibility for the cost and time overrun and the below par work done, or the contractor who provided below-standard work. The details were sought from the government of any case filed before the court or the arbitrator against the contractor for inferior construction work, but no details were made available. Obviously, no accountability has been fixed on the elected representatives who won elections based on the promise of a dam. Nor are there any records to prove the bribes alleged to have been paid by the contractors, subcontractors and petty traders to the political leaders and bureaucrats, although the villagers and activists openly talk about it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.