Temple Elephant Syndrome

Kerala Government and Officials, as expected, has shown its middle finger to all the good Samaritans who helped during the Floods, and those who were affected by it.

1. The immediate relief of Rs 10,000 for those displaced not yet distributed, and not likely to be distributed for a long time. The excuse given is that Government do not have the Bank Account numbers of those displaced and till recently in Relief Camps. Laughable.
2. Complaints are pouring in that the financial aid for Reconstruction is being left to the discretion of the local surveyor, who is hand in glove with Ruling Party Members and allotting money as per his whims and fancy. It is clear as daylight that the CPM party members, who are experts at making hay when sun shines, will corner all these funds. The real needy, who were affected, will not get anything. And the so called 'Literate Malayalis', who cry out loud for anything from Beef ban to a murder in UP to Saddam Hussain being killed, have not even conducted a protest hartal against the absolute mismanagement of the situation by the Government, pre and post floods
   
3. The Chief Minister has vanished to USA for treatment (for God knows what!) for 3 weeks at this critical juncture, without even handing over the charge to his #2. And to add insult to injury, all the Ministers are scheduled to travel to various foreign countries to 'beg' the good hearted NRIs for more money. The NRIs have already rallied very well and if more money is required, all it required was one appeal, instead of these duffers spending public money on foreign jaunts. (One is reminded of the Tamil Nadu 'Temple Elephant' which is taken out every day by the mahout to the market to make 'collections'!)
4. I was listening to a TV Interview by the Chairman of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). He apparently has a PhD in CYA (Cover Your Ass). His astounding claim was that though he knew there would be heavy rains during 13-18 of August 2018, from Private Weather Sources, he could act only based on IMD Weather Report, as otherwise "If he had recommended opening the Dam based on other sources of information, and if it had not rained heavily, "NO ONE WOULD HAVE PROTECTED HIM". And decision to not open all the Dams till it became inevitable was based on his instinct of Self Protection!. Why he was not sacked for that one statement is beyond me. It is another matter that IMD has dismissed his and Chief Minister's statements that adequate warning was not given, and has indicated how the alerts were issued regularly from 9th August.
5. An Ex Justice, who is the Chairman of Dam Safety Authority, made another bizarre statement when questioned about Flood Mapping. His take is that even if Flood mapping were to be done, it would have had no use! IF we had the flood mapping done, and IF the Government had people sensible enough to use the data, they would have released water in a staged manner ensuring steady flow, rather than opening all the Dams at once, leading to deluge. With People in responsible positions like the KSEB  and  DSA Chairmen, Kerala needs no enemies
6. Minister Raju, who vanished to Germany to attend an inconsequential program while the flood was raging, was not sacked, as expected. So much for accountability
7. The CPM is brushing of incidents of diversion of Relief materials as one off incidents, which is not true. There has been massive under utilization and diversion of relief materials. If at all it has reached the right people, it is only due to the good work done by some NGOs and selfless Volunteers
8. Central Government has agreed to undertake Reconstruction directly. But Kerala Government is lukewarm to the idea. Reason is obvious. Their cronies cant benefit if Central Government were to do this directly.
9. It is 15 days since water has receded. We are yet to see an Concrete plan from the Government as to how they are going to rebuild Kerala. And I suspect we will never see it. The whole objective now is to mop up as much cash as possible for the State, which has been following an unsustainable model of Economic Growth for a long time now.

The 'Temple Elephant' Syndrome is in full flight!

 

(P.S: One of the disgusting attitude of Malayalees was noticed during the floods. It could be an off shoot of the decades of Communist ideology, which views Capital Formation as a crime, unless the Party does it. Everyday Newspaper is flooded with statements from all and sundry as to why Mr.X or Mr.Y paid 'only' Rs 25 lakhs and why not 'Rs 1 Crore'. This is absurd. It is for individuals to decide whether or how much to pay. It is his hard earned money. No one other than him has an entitlement to it. If an Andhra Film star donated Rs 1 Crore, accept it gracefully and thank him. But don't ask why a Malayali Film Star didn't match that amount. It is cheap and petty. And it stems out of jealousy that they have more money than you. As I wrote before, Malayalees lack humility, and possess a sense of entitlement and arrogance, as if they are born to be supported by others. This has to be removed from his psyche for him to improve. I am a Malayalee and I have outgrown this syndrome. Time others did too. World will be a much better place then for Malayalees)