Was Jayalalithaa responsible for Chennai floods? Let voters think.

For all those who think that Chennai floods were caused by Jayalalithaa, thanks to the lie-spreading campaign by the DMK, please take note of the facts given here.  

The foremost lie is that a lakh cusecs of water was released from Chembarambakkam Lake on 2^nd of December 2015. I am giving below the table of the storage and inflow – outflow position by Metro water which can be found for any day in the website of Chennai Metro water.  

(Click the figures to see the enlarged version)

The outflow was 29,000 cusecs on 2^nd December. It cannot exceed that level, for that would mean the lake has breached its boundary. The lake did not have any breach. So any news of outflow from Chembarambakkam lake exceeding this level is a lie. Poondi lake had greater outflow than Chembarambakkam on that day. Seems DMK was not aware of that and therefore failed to talk about it to fool the people.

On the previous day (1^st December) the inflow was 960 cusecs and the outflow, 900 cusecs only from Chembarambakkam lake. Check this out.

Between the night of 1^st and 2^nd December, heavy rains lashed the city with Chembarambakkam receiving 47 cm within that period of 24 hours. The out flow did not exceed 29,000 cusecs.

 Let us check the succeeding day, that is 3^rd December also. The outflow has come down to 11,000 cusecs.

But within that time, nearly one lakh cusecs of water was carried by Adyar river. The lie spread by the DMK is that all this came from Chembarambakkam. The fact was that on the 1^st of December itself 35 major Lakes mostly in southern part of Chennai breached their banks and entered the roads and homes. As per The Hindu report, “The lakes that breached include Kalavakkam, Thirukazhukundram, Korapattu, Shonalur, Perungalathur, Thenmelpakkam, Irumpuliyur, Peerkankaranai, Keelkattalai, Pallavaram, Pallikaranai and Mudichur.” The extent of havoc as on 1^st December can be understood by the following illustration from The Hindu of that date.

But by then rescue operations were in full swing even according the anti- Jayalalithaa news paper The Hindu.

The water carried by the Adyar river on 2^nd and 3^rd December included the running water from the rainfall and the excess water from 50 lakes from Sriperumbudur alone. It was not wholly from Chembarambakkam lake. DMK knows this as we can see this in their manifesto. Read what the DMK manifesto says on the flood water situation of Adyar river.

This shows that the DMK manifesto itself agrees that Adyar carries excess water from 50 lakes besides the excess water from  Chembarambakkam. The contribution from Chembarambakkam was only 29,000 cusecs on 2^nd December. The next day even that reduced considerably. The excess water carried by Adyar was not from Chembarambakkam alone, the DMK knows this. But they have lied to the people and pitched it up in their propaganda. 

The 2^nd lie is that the authorities waited for the orders from Jayalalithaa to let out the excess water. The DMK quoted the events of releasing water from dams in the name of Jayalalithaa to support this lie. For release of water from dams for cultivation, it requires a government order, and therefore such orders come in the name of Jayalalithaa. However this order would be made only after discussing with the authorities at the ground level. These authorities make the the actual decision of when to release and how much to release and send this report to the CM (Jayalalithaa).  In the earlier DMK regime too, such orders were released in the name of Karunanidhi, the then Chief Minister. There was even an instance of a government release saying that Karunanidhi ordered the release of waters at the request of his son Alagiri who was then a minister in the Centre.

The situation in the reservoirs that store water for drinking purpose does not wait for such orders. There is continuous inflow to these reservoirs in the rainy season. Depending on the storage capacity and the set-norms for these reservoirs, outflow is decided by the ground level staff.

One must know that by the middle of November, Chennai had received more than normal rainfall and had all the water bodies brimming with flood waters. On 17^th November 2015, 18,000 cusecs was water was released from Chembarambakkam lake.

This was the previous highest before the release of 29,000 cusecs on 2^nd December. What was Jayalalithaa’s order at that time? Kumudam Reporter dated 24-11-2015 carried this news.

Jayalalithaa had deputed one IAS officer for each one of the lakes of the city and had given the instruction that adequate steps must be taken to safeguard life and property of citizens before deciding to release water from the lakes. That was the only order or guidance given by her. It was given at the time of the flood on November 15^th itself. Right from that time, the flood situation and water level situation in the lakes had come under close watch of the IAS officers and other officials. They had not taken a day’s leave for nearly 20 days at a stretch during this period when rain was causing a havoc in the city.

Even at that time the Government has sought help from Anna University and IIT chennai to tackle the flood situation. Kumudam Reporter dated 24-11-2015 reported that the Corporation Commisioner Mr Vikram Kapoor had said about this.

As one who had done enormous rescue work during tsunami and other natural disasters such as cyclone Thane hitting Cuddalore, it is ridiculous to say Jayalalithaa harmed the interests of the citizens by having made authorities wait for her orders to release water from Chembarambakkam.

The next lie is that she did not visit the people during the floods. Earlier on 16^th November 2015 itself,  Jayalalithaa visited RK nagar, Kolatthur and Perambur. As a head of the State she has to be available to receive the information that is pouring continuously and give suitable orders. With that stringent lack of time, she made a visit to parts of Chennai on 16^th November itself. Again when rains battered on 2^nd December, she wanted to make an aerial survey as that was the best and quick way to assess the extent of damage. But she could not do so because of the bad weather and the inability expressed by the pilots. The next day, on 3^rd, she made the aerial survey.

From Kumudam Reporter dated 08-01-2016, (click the figure to read)

The DMK has nothing to find fault with the way Jayalalithaa tacked the grave situation that was happening for a month. The Chennai Corporation, the Electricity Board, PWD and conservancy workers drawn from other districts did a commendable job in restoring normalcy in a record time of less than 5 days. In addition, medi-care was in full swing that ensured that no epidemic broke out. The general public also joined in the rescue operation and in providing relief.  But one must know that the Government machinery was behind all that relief work. It is as per their direction, the public engaged in relief work were able to reach to the needy.

The sticker controversy was created by the DMK to extract whatever mileage they could get. Within a day of the report of the sticker issue, Jayalalithaa in her capacity as the Chief of AIADMK issued a public warning that those of her party men indulging in pasting the stickers on relief material will be taken to task and disciplinary action will be taken against them.  Everyone knows how the party men abide by her orders. Any news of sticker issue after this was wanton action done by DMK men to keep this issue alive.

Yet another lie by the DMK was that prior warning was not given by the Government of the flood on 2^nd December. Nothing can be ridiculous as this. By then Chennai had seen 2 flooding and going by the scale of rainfall on 1^st and 2^nd, everyone was expecting another flood. By the afternoon of 2^nd most companies declared a holiday and most people were back home. Most shops were closed after taking measures to safeguard their goods by packing them in heights where flood waters could not reach.

The following video from News 7 TV clearly reveals how on the morning of December 1^st itself, the authorities had issued warnings and evacuated the people.

With all this if people still believe that it was because of Jayalaithaa’s inept handling, the Chennai floods had entered many homes, let them all know that all the places that went under water in this floods were built on lakes and ponds. Read my article # Chennai floods – who is responsible for it?

Reports of the poll survey by Thanthi TV showed that voters in places like T Nagar, Anna Nagar, Pallavaram, Saidapet etc are upset with Jayalalithaa Government on the floods that entered their houses and are therefore opting for the DMK. Nothing can be more foolish than this. The DMK’s PWD works are well known for little work and more commission. More than that Karunanidhi or Stalin had proved their “administrative ability” in managing the power crisis in their last regime. In contrast Jayalaithaa has a track record of quick response and administrative ability that include handling the crisis in times of natural disasters. Voters have to make an intelligent choice.