The Hindu Business Line : R-Day: Nothing to celebrate for the quake-hit

THE Republic Day of 2002 may well have been their last chance to keep the outside world interested in their sorry plight. No wonder then that the stakes were high for the first anniversary of the Quake of 2001. Ultimately, as the day panned out between a smattering of sound bites and filmed despair for the small screen and some evocative reports for the print media, it left the protagonists of this sordid drama called `remembering the quake ravaged' no better off than yesterday.

One year on, there were few takers for Republic Day celebrations in the four flattened towns of Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar Kutch. The fact is they had nothing much to look forward to, let alone celebrate. Instead, the people of these four towns have opted to hold prayer meetings mourning their departed friends and relatives as the entire Kutch remained closed. The problems are aplenty for the four worst affected towns of Kutch. The shattered houses are yet to be rebuilt, as the Government is still fine-tuning its grandiose town planning blue prints that will finally decide where the new townships should come up.

Needless to say, the claims by the Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, of having repaired eight lakh quake-ravaged houses in the last one year generated quite a bit of scepticism both in Kutch and Ahmedabad. Mr Modi, at a meeting at Bhuj today, lambasted the media for `insensitive' handling of the Government's efforts.

In Ahmedabad, where some 800-odd people lost their lives chiefly due to unethical practices followed by the builders, those who lost much had the misfortune to see the builders go scot-free in most cases.The latest initiative from the State Government - to hold `Dharti Poojans' all over the State to appease mother Earth is symptomatic if its impractical approach to quake rehabilitation, feel the people of Kutch. For the inhabitants of the four towns, most of them having suffered the loss of one or more of their near ones, the first anniversary of the killer quake only reminded them of the unkept promises by the State Government. Of the unpaid and partly paid doles, the compensation packages having come after inordinate delays and much greasing of palms. Little wonder then that the Republic Day was a Black Day for them.

"The Government wants to make intricate plans for the four towns in Kutch but how long will we wait. Rather than await for the elusive Government help and town plan, many have started rebuilding in the old towns. We are waiting to see if the Government demolishes these structures in the name of micro planning. There is a limit for waiting and the people here have breached that," said Mr Mahesh Gadvi, who lost his house in Bhuj to the quake and has been living with his sister in Anjar ever since.

The people who are still waiting to be allowed to rebuild their houses, if need be without any external aid, also see large advertorial splashes by the Government in regional and national newspapers and get to hear of costly multi-media presentations by the State authorities where press hand-outs are made in CDs. But little on the ground to mitigate their sorry plight.

So, can anybody blame them if the hapless Kutchis who refused to bow down and take any freebies even during the days of the `Relief Quake' in the days following the quake decided to protest on the January 26, 2002? They have not forgotten the cult status attained by disaster pilgrims who rushed to Kutch with a few blankets, used clothes and mineral water bottles. At the end of the day, the Kutch Mitra, the local daily, put the day in perspective when it brought out the January 26 issue - marked by scores of family photographs - those of entire families wiped out exactly a year back.

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