Kerala HC suggests preparing a map of damage

Kochi: The High Court asked the state government on Monday to prepare a special map that describes the extent of devastation during the flood.

The court's comments came while hearing a petition filed by A A Shibi, a resident of Idukki, demanding to declare the floods in Kerala as a national disaster.

The map must be prepared in a way depicting the damages in each flood-hit region. The flood affected areas must be categorised into special zones according to the damages.

This would be beneficial to the government while distributing the compensation. If maps based on zones are prepared, no other reports or documents will be needed to avail compensation.

The division bench comprising the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in its interim order, said that this map will aid the government in tackling the mishaps that may happen in future.

There must be schemes to eliminate garbage from the relief camps, roads and canals and also to remove debris. This should be carried out alongside relief operations and rehabilitation measures.

The interim order also says that it is important to convince the victims that proper and sufficient measures have been adopted to overcome the crisis.

The central and state governments informed the court that they have been working together for the rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations.

The court orally observed that the extent of devastation caused by floods in the state must be analysed as soon as possible.

Advocate General of Kerala informed the court that the state has been able to jointly face the massive floods and that there is no dearth of food and medicine in the state.

However, the court pointed out that dangerous situations still prevail in certain areas. Kerala is far ahead of all other states in achieving progress and this tempo must be sustained. The fishermen were of great help during the rescue and relief operations by helping the flood-hit victims. Different political parties joined their hands together during the time of mishap. This maturity should continue, the court observed.

The hearing of the petition was posted for August 29.