The nightmare that plagued Surat!

 

 

In a single day, on September 22, 1994, more than 82 people died in the Katargam area of Surat city due to some mysterious malaise. The whole country was paranoid. Incessant rain was still continuing. The local administration tried to put its finger on the cause of the menace and advised people to drink only boiled water. This advice created havoc and spread confusion among people and gave the impression that someone had poisoned the water of the Tapi River.

Meanwhile, there was so much of chaos that nobody wanted to listen to anything from anyone, and people had become hysteric. They collected their belongings and started leaving the diamond city. In the meantime, more deaths were reported and some deadly rats were found right across the city. Fifteen lakh people ran away in just ten days. The Gujarat government was so desperate that it tried to stop people by force.

Then, Commissioner of Surat city SR Rao took ove the command and declared a health emergency. Surat Municipal Corporation started working round the clock to make the city clean. Surat later won many awards for its cleanliness under the leadership of Rao. One IAS officer had rejuvenated such a filthy city into a zero-garbage one single-handedly. (1994)

Jagdish Shah, former editor of Gujarati daily Janmabhoomi