Each city has to evolve its own response to natural calamities since the problems are contextual and the solutions also will have to be contextual, says Tamil Nadu Revenue Secretary B. Chandra Mohan.
Identification of problems, quantification and contextualisation has to happen with specific reference to the city and the State. “Solutions, preparedness and plans also have to be city-specific,” he told The Hindu at the BRICS Urbanisation Summit here.
However, the framework can be national. In the sense there could be some components which could be supported nationally.
On whether cities are in a position to foot such huge costs, Dr. Chandra Mohan said they were not necessarily huge costs. Resources can be mobilised locally and State and Central resources are also available. How they are brought together and made more than a sum of its parts is important, he said.
On making the best use of un-seasonal, heavy rain that seems to be happening all over the country, he said it had to be a water supply matrix and there could not be dependence on one single source. In a 25-year-cyle, normal rainfall is seen for 16 years and within that once-in-10-year deluge comes in the form of heavy rainfall. For the first time in last many years reservoirs in Tamil Nadu are full to capacity (after 2015) flood.
“There is some capacity but we need to ensure that whenever there is rainfall it recharges groundwater because that capacity is much more,” Dr. Chandra Mohan said.
