WATER BOMB: Is No One Listening?

As you probably know by now, I live in the tip of South India, in a green little state called Kerala. I don't think the foreign media is covering this, but the lives of lakhs of people in the state is currently at risk. A collapsing dam stands between us and the water bomb on the other side. Quakes rock the state nearly every day. The dam is 116 years old. It's lifespan is supposed to only be 50 years.

If it breaks, or more accurately, regarding present circumstances- when it breaks- nearly three districts of the state will probably be affected. Lakhs of people will die, crores and crores of property will be lost, and the environmental impact of a massive wall of water slamming into the earth is beyond comprehension.

This is a shout out.

A post that I hope you will read so you will know that there are people living in the shadow of a water bomb, waiting for it to explode any moment. Praying for their lives, and worse, the lives of their children. Helpless.

There is the question you are asking of course, WHY?

WHY are we helpless? WHY is there no comfort from the Government that is supposed to be protecting us?  WHY was nothing done about the cracks on the dam when it first formed? WHY is it an issue in the first place?

Believe me, most of us are asking ourselves the same thing. Some blame the Kerala Government, some the Tamil Nadu Government (the dam seperates the two states and the water belongs to both; hence the political mechanisations leading to no answers for the public) and some even blame the Central Government for sitting by and watching, waiting for catastrophe to strike before doing something even mildly productive.

The shout for a new dam seems to be falling on deaf ears. The rain keeps pouring, and the water level keeps rising in the Mullaperiyar dam. We've been hit by minor quakes but if anything above 6 in the Richter scale hits, disaster will be imminent.

WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT TO SAY:

This is not the time for empty large-worded assurances.

This is the time to DO.

We don't need assurances, but ACTION.POLITICS should not come before the lives of LAKHS of people.

While we live in fear, there are questions that nearly everyone seems to be asking: Is a vote all that matters in a democracy? Is it alright to turn a deaf ear to the voice of your neighboring state and simply suggest that Keralites are over-reacting? Is it alright to sit by and send teams of people to study the dam when teams of people studying it over the years have kept saying that it is in major danger? Is it a democracy, really, when CHILDREN have to go on hunger-strikes and protests just to get some sort of ACTION?

For once in the entire blogging history of this blog, I'm asking you to help me shout out. Retweet this. Share it if you can. Comment.

There are lives at stake.

Peace out.

FACEBOOK COMMUNITY: Save People: http://www.facebook.com/Mullaperiyar999?sk=wall

Save Mullaperiyar Dam, Save Kerala Facebòòk Campaign: http://www.facebook.com/savemullaperiyar

IMAGE COURTESY: Various Malayalam news channels.