60,000 Volunteers Descend on Kerala's Kuttanad for First-of-Its-Kind Clean-Up, Ministers Join In
Alappuzha, August 28: It’s not often that one sees Kerala’s khadar-clad ministers rack up their mundus, roll up their sleeves and get down to some thorough scrubbing. But the flood-ravaged state has forced every resident, including political leaders, to hit the streets.
In one of the biggest cleaning missions following a natural calamity in India, more than 60,000 volunteers from all walks of life have descended on Kuttanad in Alappuzha district.
When Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was asked how he would tackle the massive challenge of rebuilding the state, he had said, “We will all simply get down to it. Homeowners can’t do it themselves, can they?”
When residents on Tuesday saw PWD minister G Sudhakaran cleaning soiled floors, they knew the state administration had delivered its promise. In fact, ministers from other states have also arrived in Kuttanad for the drive.
PWD minister Sudhakaran takes part in the operation. (News18)
Clean-up underway at Chakkulath Temple. (Aishwarya Kumar/News18.com)
A road near Chakkulath Temple after the clean-up. (Aishwarya Kumar/News18.com)
The army of volunteers, including ministers, electricians, plumbers, snake catchers, bureaucrats and others, will camp for the next three days in the town, the first area to be hit by the floods that have killed more than 300 people.
Although, volunteers have been working round the clock in places like Ernakulam to clean homes, the focus turned to South only when the Kuttanad clean-up campaign kicked off.
SUCI and PICCOS volunteers during the clean-up at Neeretapuram in Kuttanad on Tuesday. (Aishwarya Kumar/News18.com)
The operation is being controlled from SDV School in Alappuzha, where district officials are busy directing teams of volunteers. An action plan had been put in place on Monday evening when the administration had convened a meeting under collector S Suhas.
Sudhakaran, the tough talking, poetry writing and former lawyer, took the lead in directing the clean-up operations at the home of a farmer.
We asked him how it felt to get down to brass tacks. Pat came the reply, “Am I not an ordinary person? I am from this land. I know every field, every path in this place. I am not like some central ministers who talk about Kerala sitting in Delhi. If you are a minister, you have to get your hands dirty… help the people.”
At the finishing point of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race on Punnamada lake, a massive operation is also on simultaneously to send relief material to areas which are still inaccessible by road.
Hundreds of boats are being loaded under the supervision of Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac. Isaac told News18, “90 per cent of volunteers who had registered online for this campaign, have now reached Kuttanad. Most of them are students and young professionals. We are hoping to bring in more volunteers from across the state and outside.”
Tipper lorries, once seen as bane of Kerala roads, played a heroic role in rescue work last week as flood victims were bundled into these tall behemoths and rushed out of inundated areas.
Today, they have been pressed into service to ferry volunteers back to the same areas to do the cleaning work. The Kerala Fire Force is actively at work with their high pressure water jets to do the initial cleaning. Cleaning activities in each area is being supervised by panchayats secretaries or officials.
Once the cleaning teams are done with their work, engineering students roped in by the Kerala State Electricity Board visit the houses to check wiring and connections. Health department volunteers are on roving duty to identify areas which could pose epidemic hazards.
The district administration has arranged accommodation for these volunteers, many of them on houseboats which usually accommodate tourists. They are also being issued with preventive medicines, to ensure that small cuts and bruises don’t turn infectious.
The cleaning operation has been given an impetus by the August 30 deadline for relief camps to move out of schools which re-open the next day. The state government is hoping that it can send home at least 1.5 lakh of the 2 lakh camp residents in this timeframe. The challenge is huge, as people of 226 wards in 16 panchayats need to be rehabilitated. Many still don’t have road access.
The state government says that it will take at least two weeks to bring Kuttanad back to its feet. Therefore, the 3-day operation is just a tip of the iceberg. Finance Minister Isaac has revised the estimated investment needed to rebuild Kerala to at least Rs 1 lakh crore.
A sizable chunk of this (if the state is ever able to raise such a huge amount) will need to be earmarked for Kuttanad where the Haritha Keralam Mission for wetland revival is already pending. The challenge is no longer to revive agriculture, but to rebuild roads and buildings too.
Courtesy: www.news18.com
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“Bleeding on the road, I begged for help but no one came”: Bengaluru woman recounts husband’s death
Bengaluru: A woman in Bengaluru has shared a painful account of how her husband died after they were repeatedly denied medical help and ignored by passersby during a medical emergency, NDTV reported.
The victim, 34-year-old Venkataramanan, a garage mechanic from Balaji Nagar, developed severe chest pain around 3.30 am. His wife immediately took him on a motorcycle in search of medical help.
"He complained about chest pain, and we went to the first hospital. However, the doctor was not on duty. At the second hospital, we were told he had a stroke and to go to another hospital. When we called for ambulance services, they did not respond properly. Humanity failed, but we did our bit by donating his eye." NDTV quoted his wife as saying.
According to the report, after being turned away twice, the couple met with an accident on the road. CCTV footage later showed the woman, covered in blood, pleading with folded hands as vehicles passed by, but no one stopped to help.
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The wait ended after several minutes when a cab driver stopped and rushed Venkataramanan to a nearby hospital. Doctors there declared him dead on arrival.
As per the report, the family decided to donate Venkataramanan’s eyes, giving sight to others even in death.
Venkataraman's mother, who had lost her last surviving child, had no words to express herself: "I have no words. I do not know what to say. My son is gone."
"The government should understand a health emergency. My daughter is left with two children. Who will look after them?" asked his mother-in-law. His wife, mother, and two children, a five-year-old son and an 18-month-old daughter now survive Venkataramanan.
The incident has once again raised serious questions about emergency healthcare access, ambulance response, and public apathy in the city.
