Minister quits over handling of relief?

By Manas Dasgupta

BHUJ (Kutch), MARCH 22. The reported resignation by the Gujarat industries minister, Mr. Suresh Mehta, as the in-charge minister for the worst earthquake-hit Kutch district, has again exposed the inefficiency of the State Administration in handling the post-calamity situation and the growing fissures within the State Cabinet.

The number two in the Keshubhai Patel cabinet, Mr. Mehta, who hails from Kutch district, was the man on the spot present when the tragedy struck on January 26, preparing to take the salute at the Republic Day parade at the district headquarter of Bhuj.

With the communication network badly affected in the aftermath of the quake, it was Mr. Mehta who had to wrest the initiative to launch the rescue and relief operations. But within 24 hours his powers were reportedly neutralised by the Chief Minister who dispatched two of his close associates to Bhuj to oversee the rescue and relief operations .

Mr. Mehta, whose resignation as the Industries Minister is pending with the Chief Minister, with Mr. Patel refusing to accept it and Mr. Mehta unwilling to withdraw the paper, was known to be unhappy over the slow response of the administration to the people's problems and the way the rescue and relief operations were being handled in his district.

Mr. Mehta himself declined to confirm or deny the report of his resignation but sources close to him said he had send his papers last week but Mr. Patel is yet to accept it and instead was trying through some other BJP leaders to mollify the hurt feelings of his Industries Minister.

Mr. Mehta is also known to have confided in some of his close associates his anguish over the failure of the state government to take a decision on the re-location of the worst-hit towns, Bhuj, Bhachau, Anjar and Rapar, and some of the severely-affected villages or announce the relief package

He had promised a better deal for the people in the urban areas in Kutch than what the government had offered to the people affected by the collapse of houses in Ahmedabad but nothing so far has happened.

But instead of pacifying, the design and construction materials of the houses to be constructed both as temporary and permanent shelters for the quake-hit may further widen the differences between Mr. Patel and Mr. Mehta.

The chief minister is believed to be in favour of the government adopting unconventional plastic pre-fabricated houses based on Canadian technology, two models of which were handed over to the State Government by the Reliance Industries Limited in Bhuj today, but Mr. Mehta is known to be sharing the view with most of the local officials, the non-government organisations and the beneficiaries themselves that it is unsuitable in the given conditions in Kutch, which suffers extreme heat in the summer and extreme cold in the winter months.

Cost-wise too, the plastic pre-fabricated houses, estimated to cost about Rs. 4,000 per square feet, could be much higher than the Rs. 42,000 cost estimated by the Abhiyan, the nodal agency co-ordinating the relief operations by the non-government organisations in the border district, for a conventional random rubble 12 by 12 room but with additional in-built safety measures to withstand earthquake or any other natural calamity, and about Rs. 38,000 for soil and cement brick houses.

For the rural areas, the Abhiyan has developed several cost- effective models based on the traditional stone, bamboo and jute houses with thatched roof to provide answers to all the weather conditions and natural calamities.

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