I do not know about Karnataka, but the floods in Andhra are occurring, not because of an act of god, but because of the greed of one man - Y.S Rajasekhar Reddy! It appears there was a substantial delay (36 to 48 hours) in emptying Srisailam reservoir ahead of expected increased inflows from late season rains. It looks like this happened to ensure adequate flow of water to YSR's Brahmani Steel Plant in Kadapa district, which could only be done when reservoir levels were near full capacity. Since YSR's political heirs still seem to be calling the shots in Andhra, it is possible they exerted some sort of pressure on irrigation officials to delay emptying Srisailam reservoir till the last minute (a course of action dictated by the earlier deficit rainfall situation), not realising their pressure could have such terrible consequences for regular Telugu folks. If my hypothesis is correct, YSR's political heirs have to face criminal prosecution for their actions, but I suspect this will not happen. Instead, expect a rash of suicides/murders among officials of the Andhra Pradesh irrigation department to protect the real criminals behind the hellish flood of 2009.
It seems too far-fetched even for Con(g)men to devastate whole villages just to get water flow for a steel plant.
Alternative Reasonable Hypothesis 1: However Con(g)men could have ignored/exacerbated the crisis to milk the aid-money that's going to come from center after the crisis. As Rosaiah sought assistance of 6000cr from center, the bureaucrats and ministers must be busy scheming on how to loot the aid money.
Alternative Reasonable Hypothesis 2: It is possible that over the years YSR and his son Jagan had filled all the ministries and bureaucracy with their loyalists. Since YSR-Jagan faction is angry with High-Command & Rosaiah for not handing over Chief Ministership to Jagan, they might have deliberately exacerbated this crisis to embarrass and dethrone Rosaiah. Remember YSR staging communal riots in Hyderabad to dethrone Chenna Reddy.
You kidding, Ashok Kumar? A steel plant needs lots and lots of water, and the only way to get that amount water to a steel plant in an arid region like Rayalaseema is to tap it from the Krishna river at Srisailam. You know what their alternate plan was? Construct a desalination plant on the coast, and pipe in water from there! If you've invested in a project, which upon completion is going to be valued at upwards of Rs. 20,000 crores, and you hold the reins of power, you will pretty much do anything to protect your investment, aam aadmi be damned! And I don't think it was their intention to drown everyone living along the Krishna. That was just an inadvertent (even if it was ultimately criminal) consequence of their lust for Krishna water from Srisailam. Don't believe me? Read this report from ragalahari.com that appeared on Sep. 19, 2009 when the Krishna river basin in Andhra was still facing a drought situation:
"Addressing a press conference Mr. Umamaheswara Rao accused Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah of doing injustice to the farmers in over 22 lakh acres in Krishna, Khammam, Nalgonda, Guntur and Prakasam districts with his ‘improper and vague’ handling of the most important sector in the State. The Mylavaram MLA said the ‘illegal diversion’ of 12,000 cusecs of water from the Pothireddypadu head regulator (at Srisailam) was being done in the name of catering to the drinking water needs of people of Chennai, while the actual reason was to meet the requirements of the Bramhani Steels in Kadapa district. Though officially it was shown as just 6,500 cusecs, the actual quantity of water being diverted through the regulator was nearly double that quantity, he alleged."
The sad part in this whole episode is that YSR's partner in Brahmani Steels is a BJP minister from Karntaka, Gali Janardhan Reddy. Wonder on what terms the Karnataka BJP allowed Janardhan Reddy to become a party member?
3 comments:
I do not know about Karnataka, but the floods in Andhra are occurring, not because of an act of god, but because of the greed of one man - Y.S Rajasekhar Reddy! It appears there was a substantial delay (36 to 48 hours) in emptying Srisailam reservoir ahead of expected increased inflows from late season rains. It looks like this happened to ensure adequate flow of water to YSR's Brahmani Steel Plant in Kadapa district, which could only be done when reservoir levels were near full capacity. Since YSR's political heirs still seem to be calling the shots in Andhra, it is possible they exerted some sort of pressure on irrigation officials to delay emptying Srisailam reservoir till the last minute (a course of action dictated by the earlier deficit rainfall situation), not realising their pressure could have such terrible consequences for regular Telugu folks. If my hypothesis is correct, YSR's political heirs have to face criminal prosecution for their actions, but I suspect this will not happen. Instead, expect a rash of suicides/murders among officials of the Andhra Pradesh irrigation department to protect the real criminals behind the hellish flood of 2009.
It seems too far-fetched even for Con(g)men to devastate whole villages just to get water flow for a steel plant.
Alternative Reasonable Hypothesis 1:
However Con(g)men could have ignored/exacerbated the crisis to milk the aid-money that's going to come from center after the crisis.
As Rosaiah sought assistance of 6000cr from center, the bureaucrats and ministers must be busy scheming on how to loot the aid money.
Alternative Reasonable Hypothesis 2:
It is possible that over the years YSR and his son Jagan had filled all the ministries and bureaucracy with their loyalists. Since YSR-Jagan faction is angry with High-Command & Rosaiah for not handing over Chief Ministership to Jagan, they might have deliberately exacerbated this crisis to embarrass and dethrone Rosaiah.
Remember YSR staging communal riots in Hyderabad to dethrone Chenna Reddy.
You kidding, Ashok Kumar? A steel plant needs lots and lots of water, and the only way to get that amount water to a steel plant in an arid region like Rayalaseema is to tap it from the Krishna river at Srisailam. You know what their alternate plan was? Construct a desalination plant on the coast, and pipe in water from there! If you've invested in a project, which upon completion is going to be valued at upwards of Rs. 20,000 crores, and you hold the reins of power, you will pretty much do anything to protect your investment, aam aadmi be damned! And I don't think it was their intention to drown everyone living along the Krishna. That was just an inadvertent (even if it was ultimately criminal) consequence of their lust for Krishna water from Srisailam. Don't believe me? Read this report from ragalahari.com that appeared on Sep. 19, 2009 when the Krishna river basin in Andhra was still facing a drought situation:
"Addressing a press conference Mr. Umamaheswara Rao accused Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah of doing injustice to the farmers in over 22 lakh acres in Krishna, Khammam, Nalgonda, Guntur and Prakasam districts with his ‘improper and vague’ handling of the most important sector in the State. The Mylavaram MLA said the ‘illegal diversion’ of 12,000 cusecs of water from the Pothireddypadu head regulator (at Srisailam) was being done in the name of catering to the drinking water needs of people of Chennai, while the actual reason was to meet the requirements of the Bramhani Steels in Kadapa district. Though officially it was shown as just 6,500 cusecs, the actual quantity of water being diverted through the regulator was nearly double that quantity, he alleged."
The sad part in this whole episode is that YSR's partner in Brahmani Steels is a BJP minister from Karntaka, Gali Janardhan Reddy. Wonder on what terms the Karnataka BJP allowed Janardhan Reddy to become a party member?
Post a Comment