Talking About Weather

BUT for the unprecedented fury of the rains this monsoon, Maharashtra's disaster management plan would have already been in place—on-line and working." Behind this innocent quote from Fritz D'Silva, joint MD, Global Telesystems, which is the private sector telecom group implementing the plan, lies an admirable ambition. Chandrababu Naidu may be getting all the ovation—and an elite business school—but Maharashtra's also going about networking the entire state in earnest. Says a state government official with obvious pride: "Without creating too much of media hype, come November, Maharashtra will be the only state in the country to implement a disaster management plan that could well be the envy of the entire nation."

The genesis of the plan goes back to the catastrophic earthquake of September 30, 1993, that left a large trail of devastation in Latur and Osmanabad districts, quite unprecedented for an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 on the Richter scale. The earthquake also shattered the basic premises about the subcontinent's seismic zoning. Soon after, with the assistance of the World Bank, the state launched the Maharashtra Emergency Earthquake Rehabilitation Programme (MEERP).

Says Marjorie Green of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, California, who helped formulate the government's plan: "Disaster management is a fundamental component of sustainable development. The reduction of disaster loss is equivalent to increased development. The basic principle of disaster management is to offset unpredictable, uncontrolled disaster impacts with planned, manageable investments in disaster mitigation and preparedness."

Exactly three years later, thanks to WB financing, one of the key elements of the disaster management programme is all set to be inaugurated. Says D'Silva: "The first step to any disaster management is preparedness, which can only be achieved through reliable communications. The state bypassed traditional communication links by installing 39 VSATs and 572 VHF base stations linking every district and almost all tehsils." For the first time in the country, a state government machinery has linked itself with all its tehsils totally on its own.

The state was mapped for potential disasters. The WB and MEERP then floated tenders to link Maharashtra with VSATs and VHF technology in February and May this year. Global Wireless Technology Ltd, the Mumbai-based sister company of Global Teles-ystems group, won the contracts. And completed the ambitious project within a year. Says D'Silva: "The actual execution of the project has taken only 100 days." The total contract amounted to almost Rs 26 crore. "Since it was funded by the Bank in foreign currency, the devaluation of currencies hasn't really affected the project cost."

 All the districts and talukas will now network with state secretariat Mantralaya, regional commissioners, tehsildars, the DGP, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, naval coastguards, Western Naval Command, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, the Bombay Municipal Corporation, the Commissioner of Police and the Airport Authority of India. The entire network will have 55 repeater stations, 572 VHF base stations, 171 handheld sets, 546 towers and 570 antennas.

 The main VSAT hub will be at Mantralaya in Bombay along with a standby hub in Pune. An additional six VSAT terminals at divisional commissioners' offices will be located in Nashik, Bombay, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Amravati. Each of the 31 districts will also have one VSAT terminal at district headquarters. Batteries and uninterrupted power supply systems have been provided at the sites. And transponder space on communication satellite Intelsat has been leased by VSNL to the state.

"Being in Maharashtra, all the antennae and hub-stations are above the equator, while the geostationary satellite—Intelsat at 64 degrees east—is on the equator. So all antennas have been directed south at the requisite angles. Since the network may operate with any satellite in future, we've ensured that a clear line of sight exists for the VSAT antenna," says Pavitra Kumar Roy, who heads Special Projects Utility at Global.

Apart from file transfers, the network will enable voice, data, fax and e-mail connectivity anywhere in the state. Video conferencing between district collectors, divisional commissioners and Mantralaya will be possible, independent of Department of Telecommunication (DOT)phone lines. Says P.P. Kale, executive director, Global Wireless: "This is the first Ku-band VSAT network approved by DOT. The VHF network deployed using link repeaters is also unique in design. The optimal VHF frequency can be reused for 30 networks, another first in the country."

Statistics for potential natural calamity zones are now being compiled. Records for tide movements, potential typhoons and earthquake-prone zones are being lined up with Geographic Information System (GIS) to mitigate the disasters. Says Johnny Joseph, secretary and special commissioner (earthquake rehabilitation) revenues and forests, government of Maharashtra: "The two earthquakes that hit peninsular India, in particular Maharashtra—the Koyna quake in '67 and the Killari quake in '93—have focussed attention on the seismological state of the region.

THOUGH the recorded seismic history of India (about 200 years old) is short, the pattern of earthquakes in the peninsular shield consists of long periods of earthquake quiescence alternating with short periods of activity." The Multi-Hazard Disaster Management Plan (MDMP) will create a computerised disaster management information system that will make available all relevant information at the Emergency Operations Centre at Mantralaya, Mumbai.

Combined with GIS and MDMP, the network will forewarn the government of earthquakes, typhoons, floods or any such natural calamity. Post-disaster relief and rehabilitation is another area of use. "It will help in coordinating among hospitals, voluntary organisations all over the state, police, ambulances, fire-brigade and government relief measures," says D'Silva.

The network has the potential of delivering much more than what it initially was meant for. Says D'Silva: "The network can add up to 200 VSAT terminals without any additional hub. There is also a provision of local network expansion through LAN at each district headquarter." This means the state can now have an on-line record of each district-level transaction without straining traditional communication links.

Next on the agenda is to computerise land records, revenue records from each district and connect them through VSAT terminals. In one stroke, the state government can monitor agricultural inputs, commodity prices movement, crop statistics, seed management, irrigation water deliveries for use by state irrigation departments; drought-prone area programme monitoring for effective rural development; land records system; storage and stock position of food-grains; sugar informatics system; and the public distribution system. "Besides, the state government can now monitor various social development programmes like healthcare, immunisation drives, revenue collections like sales tax collections, court records," says a Mantralaya official.

However, the success of the project will depend largely on the government's focus. In 1975, the central government had set up the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Six years back, NIC set up NICNET—a satellite-based nation-wide computer communication network with over 650 nodes and one of the largest VSAT networks of its kind in the world—connecting the national capital, the state capitals and district headquarters. NIC-NET is now an integral part of many government and corporate sector organisations, providing information exchange services.

 IT experts recommend that the states opt for such integrated networks. Interconnecting could, to an extent, disaster-proof a vulnerable nation and its people.