Now, the Larger Challenge of Rehabilitation

Editorial:
The relief operations are more or less complete and now will begin the more difficult challenge of rehabilitation. Monitoring and planning, qualities which have never been Sikkim’s assets, will need to be reinforced to levels new to the administration here while also ensuring that the checks and balances do not end up slowing down the process.
It is important for rehabilitation to not only be quick and effective, but also transparent and universal. At present, most reports on the scale of destruction and projections for rehabilitation are interim and the final details still awaited. Many of the oversights in reaching relief and rehabilitation, complaints against which are coming in, could be because of this incompleteness of the data. That, however, does not mean that complaints be dismissed as political opportunism of a handful and left unattended. Faced with a devastation of the scale which has visited Sikkim over the past fortnight, it is important for every hurt to be attended and every slight, whether intentional, accidental or perceived, assuaged. An integral part of the rebuilding process will be the belief of all the affected people that they are being looked out for. Only this reassurance will win the undivided attention and support of all the people, a collaboration without which the State’s rehabilitation will not come through irrespective of how many crores it invests in the process. For that, the Government, as the adage goes, will not only have to be fair, but also appear to be fair at all levels.
The Government has appointed Secretary-level officers as in-charges of relief and rehabilitation efforts at the districts. Senior officers hailing from the affected areas have now also been deputed sector-wise to North district with the same task. These measures should complement the diligence with which officers in the field have responded to the disaster. What the government should also now consider is deputing officials to manage a complaints cell. This cell should handle more than just people’s complaints and also function as fast-track RTI nodes to release information and clarify doubts. It has to be accepted that given the scale of destruction suffered by the people, there will be many who will slip through the gaps. It would be unfair to leave their situation unattended and their grievances unheard. The DC East, in a recent appeal, has called on people whose houses have suffered damage, but who have not yet been visited by experts, to contact the district control room at MG Marg at leave their details. What is being proposed with a complaints cell is a similar exercise for people to have an office which will hear them out. The reason why this cell should also function as an information sharing node is for the people to know what is being done on ground and understand how the other affected areas are faring. This will have to be a responsibility which is exclusively handled, and should not be an additional charge because that would compromise the office’s effectiveness because its primary responsibility will be to redress oversights and reassure people that no affected person will be left behind.
What will also challenge the rehabilitation process will be the demands it places on inter-departmental coordination, a challenge made more complicated by the host of agencies from outside whose expertise and goodwill will need to be tapped to ensure that Sikkim gets back on its feet steadier and more balanced. Too many times in the past, this expertise and goodwill has been frustrated by indifferent bureaucrats or sloppy bureaucratic processes. This cannot be allowed anymore because as the rehabilitation begins, the dearth of experts will drive home and every assistance will need to be embraced. It is important that such offers are channelled properly through one office because that will ensure dedicated follow-up and fix accountability more accurately. Although every department will be engaged in rehabilitation works at every level, there should be one office dedicated to keeping track and maintaining records of what is happening where so that overlaps are ironed out in time and additional resources channelled where required. Of course, such a system exists on paper, now for it to be delivered in practice.