A seminar on rebuilding the flood-ravaged Kuttanad has stressed the need for out-of-the-box ideas and imaginative policy changes for ensuring sustainable development of the unique ecosystem.
The seminar was organised by the Archbishop Kuriakose Kunnassery Foundation.
Murali Thummarukudi, Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said this disaster was long due. “This is actually not one disaster, but three,” he said, pointing to the different ways the highlands, midlands, and the coastal regions were hit by the floods. Mr. Thummarukudi stressed the need to approach the issue by taking Kerala as one single unit.
He also called for involving the younger generation, who had played a stellar role in the rescue operations, in lead positions during rebuilding efforts too. He also wanted the authorities to revisit the decision to do away with celebrations. “We must create a mood of happiness for the flood-hit,” he said.
Culture of greed
Dubbing the recent floods as the price society had to pay for the culture of greed, P.H. Kurian, additional chief secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management, said time had come to rethink the existing models. “The State is ruled by one set of building rules. These floods were an eye-opener to the fact that we need different sets of building rules for the highlands, the midlands, and the coastal region,” he said.
Making it clear that he was expressing his personal opinion and not the government policy, Mr. Kurian said paddy cultivation in Kuttanad was kept buoyant by heavy government subsidy to the farmers. Moreover, farming practices too had changed as most were cultivating on leased fields. Many landowners live outside Kuttanad or even in foreign countries,” he said.
Mr. Kurian said the polders of Upper Kuttanad could be used as huge fresh water reservoirs cultivating fish. “This water could be exploited on a commercial basis,” he said. K.G. Padmakumar, director, International Research and Training Centre for Below Sea Level Farming, Kuttanad, underscored the importance of bringing back old ways of living. He called for construction of bypass water ways for easy flow of water, doing away with the bund system. He also warned against tidal floods unless immediate corrective steps were not taken.
Former diplomat T.P. Sreenivasan was the moderator. Former Supreme Court judge Cyriac Joseph welcomed the gathering. Kerala Congress (M) leader Thomas Chazhikkadan; Anto Antony, MP; Mons Joseph, MLA; and others spoke.
