Editorial: Monsoon Preparedness Should be a Year-round Effort

Here are the basics- in Geographical terms, the South-East quadrant of Sikkim, its footprint spreading across the alignment from Mangan to Dikchu to Gangtok up to Rongli, is the maximum rainfall zone of the State. The South-West corner around Hilley in West Sikkim is the other wetter zone and between the two sits the dry-to-the-extent-of drought-prone spread of Namchi and its immediate surroundings. This much, anyone who has lived in Sikkim for a decent stretch of years will know instinctively. Ironically, this obvious fact has remained blindsided for far too long in the State catching its people and planners on the wrong foot every time the skies open up. Readers of this newspaper would have noticed how the connectivity and supplies situation is being addressed reasonably in advance by the concerned departments. These reports are included as much to inform people of the preparedness plans as for them to check back when the slides begin in earnest. The Department’s getting into monsoon readiness mode is a welcome sign, but what cannot be ignored is that monsoons become a challenge essentially because the drier months are allowed to pass without enough preparedness work getting done. For example, meteorological data informs that Gangtok has an average of 184 days of rainfall every year. That is a staggering number of wet days, but the data also records that the capital has almost as many days without rain and for a region kept on tenterhooks with what the clouds bear, the dry months need to be used well – to reinforce, repair, rebuild and restore. And yet, planners in the various civil works agencies of the State and Central governments refuse to make use of the dry months to get done with their digging and scrapping. It goes without saying that any work which, in any way, weakens slopes and alignments should be banned safely ahead of the monsoons because Sikkim’s slopes have a tendency to come down like dominos at the slightest disruption once the monsoon sets in. With slightly over half the year spent with rainfall [albeit of varying intensities], planning here should be with wet weather in mind. In these days of climate change, this becomes even more important because while the number of days with rainfall might come down, the intensity is projected to increase and that is even more destructive.
One needs to also bear in mind is that the rash of freak weather that Sikkim has been experiencing in recent years is no longer ‘freakish’ because it is consistent with climate change patterns. Sikkim now has a Department of Science & Technology with a longer name which includes “Climate Change”. The policy-makers should realign the focus of this department away from making people “aware” of climate change, to counsel other arms of the government on climate change adjustments and preparedness. Any student who has prepared for an essay/ debate competition on climate change will tell you that the intensity of climatic phenomenon is projected to reach extreme levels with climate change. Sikkim has already experienced it with the searing heat a few weeks back to the wet and humid discomfort of late. There might be fewer days of rainfall, but the days when it rains, it will pour. Departments working on civil projects like roads, hydel projects or construction should be the ones who get briefed on what to expect in the coming years and adjust their designs and work schedules accordingly. Storm drains, for example, should not be designed to receive 8 cm of rain over an entire day in May, but to evacuate this inundation within an hour. Having been caught off-guard should not be accepted as an excuse anymore. The accompanying piece on the role hills and slopes play in water conservation might be too dense for most tastes, but its message needs to be taken seriously. Water conservation, an important issue around the word as in Sikkim, needs to be approached in a more pragmatic and interdisciplinary manner with intelligent and informed plantation efforts because a hill/ slope which conserves water well is also less prone to slip away. Done right, the spring rejuvenation mission should not only address the future needs of water supply, but also stabilise the slopes of Sikkim which have been debased by too much ‘development’ and too little respect for traditional knowledge...