Maintenance of natural disasters and essential services

- People Oriented Guidance: - H.S. Patel IAS (Retd.)

- Change in cropping system required in agriculture

- Change in climate change based cropping system is necessary today

Natural disasters are also linked to the creation of human life and teach every disaster, system of governance and mankind something new. Natural and man-made disasters include floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. Which is not in the hands of man, but in technical and legal language the Act of Vis major is considered an act of God. Which is also considered as an uncontrollable circumstance. Natural calamities have become more prevalent in the last two-three decades as compared to the past and the reason for this is seen in the analytical form that human beings have tampered with nature in the rush of development and due to natural imbalances including environmental damage, pollution, exploitation of natural resources etc. Mankind has also survived natural disasters. But survival poses challenges.

The Meteorological Dept. of India has already made a forecast for the recent 'Taut' hurricane off the coast of Gujarat and also provided information on how fast and where the landslide will occur so that the state government can take timely action. So that casualties are relatively low. But more damage has been done to agriculture and especially horticultural crops. At the same time essential services include electricity and water supply. Excessive damage to power lines and substations of power distribution company (Discoms) and transmission company (GETCO) in coastal villages and also in affected towns due to damage to power poles, transformer centers, sub stations in villages. A team of distribution companies has restored power by operating on a war footing. Now the power supply has been restored except for a few villages. We all know that with the implementation of electricity supply and especially in Jyotigram scheme in Gujarat, 8 hours electricity is provided in the villages and Jyotigram scheme has a big contribution in changing the standard of living of the villages. Based on my long-term experience in the power sector, I can say that GEB personnel did an exemplary job in restoring power supply on a war footing, even during the 13th Kandla-Kutch hurricane, even though the extent of the damage was high at that time. Although the power was restored in Bhuj in 3 hours, during this period Amo was acting as the Secretary of Gujarat Electricity Board. Similarly, during the floods of Surat in 2002, in Adajan-Rander area which falls under the jurisdiction of South Gujarat Power Company, the power restoration work was done faster than that of private power company Torrent. Thus, the work of power distribution company or transmission company in times of disaster has been commendable. Due to heavy rains after hurricanes, it is necessary to keep the platform of power transformer of 500/200 or 4 KV sub station of transmission high as well as water dewatering system as well as control room column base structure so that the sub station can continue. Similarly, salinity in coastal villages or areas in power distribution installations causes damage to electric poles, transformer centers as well as conductor wires or even more damage during storms. Underground cabling or coated conductors should be used where the most affected areas are to maintain power supply during such times, thus supplying drinking water and health services along with electricity in times of natural calamity and maintenance is also dependent on electricity. Providing uninterrupted power supply to hospitals or covid care centers was a major challenge, especially during the Corona period. However an alternative generator has also been arranged so that no adverse circumstances are present in this matter.

Hurricane 'Taukte' has uprooted mango and whole mango trees this time around due to horticultural crops and mango season. Similarly, coconut, banana and other horticultural crops have been damaged. This is the damage caused by hurricanes, but over the last two decades the climate cycle has changed due to 'Climate Change' and earlier kharif and sun crops were planned based on the rainy season and maintained as Monsoon Pattern Uniform but for many years even in winter Comes and also falls in the month of November. Earlier, Saurashtra received less rainfall and instead of drought-prone areas, Saurashtra received Cloud Bursting or cyclone based rains. So that systemic and horticultural crops are damaged and farmers have to suffer and also the government has to pay crop compensation. The insurance under which farmers are compensated does not include cash crops i.e. the risk factor is higher and the premium has to be higher and experience has shown that insurance companies do not get adequate compensation in proportion to the loss or under one pretext or another. Climate Change requires a change in the study-based cropping system to determine which specific types of crops to grow in an environment of uncertainty due to the change of seasons rather than the previous Climate Zone based cropping, and compensation for losses when frequent natural disasters occur. It is also necessary to determine the actual payment criteria based on the specific inputs given. Under the changing circumstances, the National Disaster Management Authority and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Institute need to take action in this direction.