Responsibility Mapping

Though the sky is still overcast and the threat of rains and cloudbursts keeps haunting, it’s time a grand rethink is initiated at a collective level. While we are posing questions to the government, especially the departments that are tasked with the work of guarding J&K against the threat of floods, it is about time to further widen the discourse on how we can mitigate the threat of floods.

Rains and cloudbursts are no new a phenomenon. What has changed is the impact of it, and therein lies our role.  The pattern our housing has acquired over decades now is a huge problem. We have exhibited a total disregard towards where we build houses and how we manage those habitations. The fact of the matter is that it is not the flood water that barges into our compounds, it is we who walk into the land actually meant for flood waters. We have to swim back to the shore.

The way out, in this case, is not solely with the government. Also, people alone cannot help. The two will have to work in tandem. Certain things need to happen now. One, the concerned authorities should take a strict view on where to permit building a house or a commercial structure. Two, people need to make a conscious choice of not building houses or commercial establishments where they are not supposed to be built. The most important, and probably the most effective, step in this regard would be for the government to make a positive and affirmative intervention. The government needs to identify locations that can serve as new housing and commercial slots. If the real needs of housing are met, government can initiate a huge change that can go a long way in reversing the encroachments that have  marred our landscape.

As a long term planning, government should mark the areas that are actually floodplains, and publicize on a grand scale, issuing comprehensive notices on not to build any structures over there. There should be a standing instruction that if a structure is built on the demarcated parcels of land, it will be demolished without notice. Not just who build those structures be heavily penalised, the concerned officers whose duty was not to allow any structures come up in those areas should also face action.

Unless we map the responsibilities in a comprehensive way and follow it to the granular detail, the floods will chase us with every shower.