For the Raje government, the floods are a testing time but more could have been done to minimise the losses None could have imagined even in the wildest dreams that the Barmer district of Rajasthan, where drought is the way of life, will have floods of such a high magnitude. In the recorded history nothing is mentioned about such massive floods -and that too within a few hours. No doubt the floods are a black chapter in the history of Barmer as none could say with any amount of certainty about the exact figure of the deaths. Unofficial figures put the human toll to over 500 with hundreds continue to be on the missing list. That the human loss is so massive could be gauged from the fact that all the 24 members of a family in the Malwa village near Barmer were swept away with no clue of their whereabouts. It all began from the midnight of 19 August, when suddenly heavy downpour lashed the Barmer and Jaisalmer districts, bordering Pakistan. The worst hit is Barmer and in no time the damages assumed high proportions and reports say that over one lakh animals have perished in the villages of Kawas and Malwa. Even the state's relief minister, Kirorilal Meena, is not in a position to say about the extent of the cattle death. "It could even be more than one lakh and the dead animals are being buried to ward off the chances of epidemic outbreak," says the minister. No doubt the Vasundhera Raje government has been caught unawares by the fury of the floods and the heavy losses and at one stage there seemed to be total confusion in taking up the relief measures. The chief minister has since visited the affected areas and has issued instructions to the officials to ensure that no laxity should be allowed in taking up the rescue operations. No problem for funds "I think there are more people who have lost their lives and are missing than what the state government has claimed," declared Union minister of state for home, Sriprakash Jaiswal much to the surprise of the state government after making an aerial survey of the area. There should be no problem in arranging funds to meet the calamity as Rs850 crore has already been sanctioned by the Centre from the natural relief fund. "We are ready to provide more money but all we need is a Arm estimate of the losses from the Raje government," he told reporters. What is causing problem to the officials in providing instant relief is the vast stretches of the gypsum deposits in the areas which prevent the water from percolation. No doubt the mineral, once considered a boon to the villagers, is now preventing them from getting the much needed, relief. "The layer of gypsum resists absorption like a sheet of plastic and it may take months before all the flood water is absorbed or evaporated," say the local environmentalists. According to the chief minister, she has asked for urgent satellite images so as to properly study the topography of the region as something like this has never happened in the living memory. The district administration of Barmer, headed by the young and energetic collector Subir Kumar, has chalked out a strategy to drill holes into the pits to facilitate water absorption. But there is no doubt that the officials will have to relocate people from the low-lying villages such as Malwa and Kawas. And the chief minister wants the Centre to come to her rescue in a big way at this critical juncture. What is causing worries to the government is the heavy damages the flood waters have done to the drilling operations of oil and gas in the district. As many as 15 oil wells have been submerged by the gushing flood waters. The ongoing work of the multinational Cairn Energy to produce crude from the wells for the proposed oil refinery have gone awry and the government will now have to rethink the entire strategy. The drilling opera