The Catholic Church in Karnataka has dropped its plan to collaborate with the state government in flood relief, saying the effort has become politicized.

After rains and floods ravaged the southern Indian state in early October, the Church had announced it would cooperate with the government’s relief and rehabilitation works to avoid duplication.

But Bishop Peter Machado of Belgaum, who heads one of the five affected dioceses, told UCA News the Church has decided to work independently as the government has given no direction for collaboration.

The Church was open to cooperate with the government “but it seems to be not working,” he said.

Floods from Sep. 30 to Oct. 2 killed 226 people and destroyed about 500,000 houses in Karnataka’s northern region. Nearly 8,000 heads of cattle drowned as water inundated 4,290 villages, damaging around 1.13 million hectares of crops and washing away roads and bridges.

The state government has estimated the loss at around 185 billion rupees (US$3.9 billion).

Father Faustine Lobo, spokesperson for the Church in Karnataka and a consultant to Caritas-India, the Church’s social service arm, alleged the state government seemed “busy collecting funds and making announcements” but has offered no strategies to help the victims.

He said there was a widespread apprehension over the way political parties fought each other to raise millions of rupees for flood relief. He said Karnataka’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian people’s party) was “more concerned about taking political mileage out of the situation than planning steps” to rehabilitate the victims.

The Karnataka Regional Organization for Social Service will now coordinate the Church’s relief works instead.

Bellary diocese, which covers most of the affected regions, has worked out a strategy to help the victims through NGOs. “We have initiated an NGO forum for flood relief to avoid duplication and enhance effectiveness,” Bishop Henry D’Souza of Bellary told UCA News.

Bishop D’Souza said the forum has Christian, Hindu and Muslim organizations as members. “We have already spent around 6 million rupees in immediate relief activities,” he said and added the forum has fed 15,000 people for 15 days.

Bishop D’Souza also said working with NGOs is “more practical and less political than working with” government departments.

Diocesan social service societies in the affected dioceses have formed self help groups to implement the Church’s plan in villages. The Church also tries to educate people about the government’s various welfare schemes, Bishop Machado said.

Source:  UCAN

Related posts:

1. Church rushes relief to typhoon victims
2. Religious help flood victims in Andhra
3. Church attack: state apathy blamed
4. Church fights state control of property
5. Church, state concerned about ‘love jihad’

Stay in Touch

Subscribe to Religious India free Newsletter