Worm-infested relief work!

Donations for the relief work of the government and voluntary organisations flow generously from all over the country during natural calamities, including floods and landslides. This charity is not due to generosity, but because people are shocked to realize that natural disasters can happen anywhere, anytime. Beyond that, it is because one imagines oneself in the place of the victims for a moment. The thought that "If I do it today, the same mercy will come for me from someone else tomorrow". What would those who made donations feel when they read the news that the food items given to the victims of the Mundakkai and Chooralmala landslides in the Meppadi panchayat of Wayanad the other day were worm-infested and unconsumable? Isn't giving unconsumable food crueler than not providing food at all?!

It has been 100 days since the Wayanad tragedy took place. How many days have passed since those who were staying in relief camps were shifted to temporary shelters?! Rice, wheat, semolina and other food items procured by the government and voluntary organisations from various places to be distributed within weeks of the disaster were stacked in kits at the collection centre at EMS Hall in Meppadi panchayat. Those in need should come there and receive these. The worm-infested food items were found in the kit received by the four families who arrived the other day like this. The district collector and food safety commission chairman have ordered an inquiry into the incident. However, the most important issue is not the technical hurdle in the timely distribution of these kits in the UDF-ruled panchayat; it is the lack of sympathy and inhumanity of those who calculate political gains In any catastrophic situation.

The distribution of worm-infested food kits is naturally a hot topic of discussion as the Lok Sabha by-election in Wayanad and assembly by-elections in two places are just around the corner. The dispute is whether remissness and laxity took place on the part of the revenue department of the government, or on the part of the UDF administration in Meppadi panchayat where the collected relief materials were stored! The revenue department handed over these food grains to the panchayat to distribute them before Onam. Though the responsibility for the distribution rests with the political leadership of the panchayat, the governing body argued that it was the panchayat officials who should have distributed it efficiently. Anyway, for the past two days, the ruling party organisations have been organizing protest marches and rallies to Meppadi panchayat. The police are dealing with all this.

While food items, clothing and other supplies are collected for distribution in relief areas, the procurement of these takes place at the government level and under the leadership of voluntary organisations. This will also include the direct contribution of individuals. However, the revenue and local bodies departments should have a special mechanism to ensure that the distribution of these is carried out efficiently in the disaster areas and relief camps. If a collection centre has been set up in the panchayat, the panchayat governing body and officials alike are responsible for regulating the distribution of the materials collected there and inspecting and removing the unusable materials. There should be a foolproof system for its supervision and evaluation, at least in the future. Anything is useful only by doing it at the right time.