Kochi is a city of paradoxes. Smack in the heart of the city, where property, as they say, goes by the weight of gold, are the following: An office exclusively catering to the district’s veterinary requirements (mostly for inseminating cows and buffaloes), a large parcel of land set apart as the city’s abattoir, blood gore et al, and a dilapidated building that plays host to all the irrigation needs of the district. Surprisingly, not many have questioned the relevance of this skewed space usage pattern.
True, paradoxes are part and parcel of Kerala these days. Indications are the mammoth task of Rebuild Kerala with a Rs 25,000 crore mark-up is going to be no exception. The state government insists on ignoring the unholy nexus between corrupt officers in the Public Works Department, pliable contractors and politicians as it sets off to rebuild the rain-ravaged roads and bridges of the state. This decision of the state government not to pay heed to the alarm signals regarding presenting old wine in the proverbial new bottle does not spare the advisory of KPMG, its own chosen consultants for the project.
As per a recently-unearthed report ‘Systems Study on Public Works Department’ by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau that was submitted before the state Assembly in 2016 but never acted upon, there is a clear case regarding fraudulent revision of estimates for road work by 100 to 300 per cent. In other words, if the state government insists on entrusting all the road work to the PWD and its trusted contractors, going by what has transpired in the past, it would be a toss-up between 30 and 50 per cent of the allocated funds finding their way into the laying of roads. A worrying thought, as preliminary estimates indicate Rs 10,000 crore is the cost to put the limping roads back on their feet.
Locking horns over Sabarimala
But Rebuild Kerala has taken a backseat as the state government is consumed by its compulsion to enact the Supreme Court verdict allowing young girls and women in the 10-50 age bracket to reach the Sannidhanam during the pilgrimage season. Adding to the degree of difficulty, this comes at a juncture when the state was forced to take a decision, post the recent floods that devastated Pampa, to shift the base camp from Pampa to Nilakkal, an additional 15 km from the Sannidhanam.
The real impact of the verdict will start becoming visible when the upcoming Mandala pooja season begins on November 17. By the time the season ends on January 14, with the Makaravilakku Mahotsavam, the numbers will tell the story of the true desire of women devotees to take a darshan of Lord Ayyappa at his abode, notwithstanding his Naishtika Brahmachari status. Because, during the season, last year, approximately 70 lakh devotees, including two lakh women — girls below 10 and women above 50 — descended on the hill shrine. If there is a surge of women, this figure would start to creep its way towards 80 lakh. But then, some of the protagonists in this religio-judicial tussle believe not too many new women devotees would be from Kerala.
The political divide over the Sabarimala verdict is getting accentuated by the day, with quite a few leaders getting off the fence. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has reiterated the state government’s stance in favour of the women and, therefore, there will be no review petition, a line the Travancore Devaswom Board has been forced to toe. The Nair Service Society and the Ayyappa Seva Sangham will be going for a review petition. Both the RSS and the BJP have now come out against those going against the temple rituals.
With the Congress coming out as the champion of the Sabarimala devotees’ hurt sentiments, the ruling Left front is clearly rattled. This is borne by the late decision of the chief minister to go beyond enforcing the Supreme Court verdict and hold a dialogue with the thantri. The devotees cannot be blamed for wondering why the government wanted to rub them the wrong way to begin with. Either way, the government has its task cut out, gearing up to handle a possible influx of lakhs of women devotees at Sabarimala which may or may not happen even as it faces the wrath of lakhs of Ayyappa devotees.
Rain spectre looms
Meanwhile, another bout of torrential rain knocks on the state’s doors in the shape of yet another low-pressure formation, this time threatening to develop into a cyclone. Red alerts were sounded in Idukki and Malappuram on Thursday. For a change, the state government has come off its high horse and ensured the early release of water from quite a few dams that had stored beyond the desired levels while maintaining sufficiently low levels at major dams like Idukki. In other words, it is a clear admission of its erroneous approach in releasing dam water last season.
Because, the Kerala State Electricity Board that is in charge of a number of dams has stopped making those ridiculous claims that it made post floods in August about there being nothing wrong in filling dams to the brim. In the present scenario, there is only a minimum distance from dam to road and the KSEB’s decision to make amends for its faults last time would find a resonance in the reconstruction of the state. This would mean a change of guard, with agencies of national and international repute taking charge of Rebuild Kerala.
Lessons to be learnt
Let us look at two instances where entire towns and cities were rebuilt successfully. The first was almost a quarter century ago, after the plague laid low the city of Surat in 1994, a diminutive bureaucrat S R Rao totally transformed one of the richest at the same time a dirty one, marked by narrow roads, big garbage piles and overflowing sewers, with urban slums adding to the misery, into one of the smartest and cleanest cities of the country.
One of the things he did was clean up the Surat Municipal Corporation of nepotism and corruption. Clearly something the state government can look into is how Rao sorted out corrupt officers who sat on projects waiting for their palms to be greased. And the second instance was the massive reconstruction of the quake-hit Gujarat, post 2001. As in Surat, the rebuilt parts of the state — Anjar, Bhuj, Kutch, Ahmedabad — you name it, all these towns/cities have been transformed beyond recognition.
Last heard, the state government was getting swayed by the argument ostensibly made by the old firm of contractors, no doubt seconded by the PWD officers and some politicians, that one needs to be familiar with the geography of a state to rebuild it. Therefore, the best people, the most qualified agencies must be allowed to rebuild Kerala so that what the next generation inherits is a modern state. Surely what we do not need is the old state limping on the crutches of its questionable policies.
Vinod Mathew
Resident Editor, Kerala
Email: vinodmathew@newindianexpress.com