P. Sainath

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Chaotic,
messed up, bewildering – all sorts of things lie drying out on the banks of the
Kuppapuram lake. Even banks. 

The
Kuttamangalam Service Cooperative Bank, standing barely 8-10 feet from the lake,
is still recovering from the devastation of the August floods in Kerala. It has
heaps of material lying out alongside the very water body that flooded this
branch. So does everyone else in Kainakary panchayat – there is no other place
to dry your stuff. Except that with a bank, that stuff includes ledgers, files,
deeds, vital documents.

As
we look around, we’re hoping all the bank’s records have been computerised. The
sight of computers also drying out and being cleaned up isn’t reassuring.  This part of Lower Kuttanad region in
Alappuzha district lies mostly below sea level. Flooding from the rains and rampaging
rivers in August meant tens of thousands had to be evacuated to relief camps
elsewhere. Most returned to devastated homes two weeks, or more, later. Only to
find many of their houses still under water. 

“The
waters rose to the level of the front door of our building,” explains bank
cashier Girish Kumar H.  And in so doing,
swept over and submerged all within. That the bank’s vault is at a lower level,
something like a half-basement, made things worse. The vault door seems
immovably jammed – mercifully in a half-open position. Inside, two old
fashioned-looking cast-iron safes bear the rust, corrosion and marks wrought by
the waters that engulfed them. 

Along
the narrow banks of Kainakary village’s canals, we’re gingerly stepping around what
people have laid out to clean and dry. Furniture, mattresses, refrigerators, school
books, children’s homework, blankets and clothes. Here a Bible, there a Bhagavad
Gita – even a Kisan Credit Card. 

But
there’s a resilient response to the chaos. Everyone is pitching in to sort out
the mess and get on with life. Inside the bank, its staff must have slaved
endless hours to get things back into some order. They’ve cleaned the water out
of the vault level, dried out several ledgers and records, and reorganised the
office. Well, as best they could in these circumstances. It’s a tough fight.
Many files and ledgers smell of, and are visibly affected by, fungus and mould.

Still,
through the flooding period, the bank’s staff salvaged all they could. They
managed to shift 5.5 kilograms of gold, quite some cash, and title deeds of
various properties to their district headquarters in Alappuzha town. The president
of the bank, P.G. Sanal Kumar, told my colleague (and PARI Fellow) Sasikumar V.
on the phone that all their accounts and the most valuable documents were backed
up and safely stored in a server in Bengaluru. 

That’s good to know. Especially
when the threat of another round of heavy rains looms over Kerala.

The bank that went under – almost

മുങ്ങിപ്പോകലിന്റെ വക്കോളമെത്തിയ ഒരുബാങ്ക്

வெள்ளத்தில் பெருமளவு மூழ்கிவிட்ட வங்கி

बुडाल्यात जमा एका बँकेची गोष्ट

बैंक जो डूब गया – लगभग

بینک جو ڈوب گیا – تقریباً

ଯେଉଁ ବ୍ୟାଙ୍କ୍ ପ୍ରାୟ ପାଣି ତଳେ ଥିଲା

Alappuzha

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The bank that went under – almost

After the floods in Kerala, the clean up underway requires retrieving and rescuing countless thousands of valuable records and deeds, without which many activities could be paralysed for a long time

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