Parliamentary Panel slams government for not filling National Disaster Management Authority posts

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has slammed the Modi government for not appointing Vice-Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for the last one year and not announcing any central relief for Odisha which suffered damage along with Andhra Pradesh due to Cyclone Hudhud.
"The country can ill afford indecisiveness at apex level in matter of disaster management", the panel has said in a report tabled in Parliament on Friday. It also raised questions on why Andhra Pradesh was only given Rs 400 crore as relief though the Prime Minister had promised Rs 1000 crore as a committee from the highest executive. "The Committee is of the considered view that if any package is announced by PM, it should be honoured by everyone without any question. If there is some reservation in any quarter of the Government, the PM should be properly briefed before any announcement," the report says. Hudhud cyclone struck Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and both the states had suffered loss, though more in Andhra Pradesh.

The Committee has also expressed its displeasure that critical posts in NDMA like those of the Vice-Chaiperson, some members, Financial Advisor and Advisor Operation are vacant. "The Committee is constrained to express its displeasure over the prevailing state of affairs pertaining to composition and functioning of NDMA wherein many posts of Members are vacant since long and the issue relating to re-constitution of Advisory Committee of NDMA is hanging fire since June, 2010. The Committee understands that such modus operandi of NDMA would be unacceptable to any Government of the democratic country where disasters visit so frequently and so vigorously," the panel said in a report tabled in Parliament on Friday.

M Shashidhar Reddy, the former NDMA Vice-Chairperson and five other NDMA members had resigned en masse from their posts last June after the new government asked them to quit. In December, three new NDMA members were appointed -- Kamal Kishore, a disaster reduction expert at the United Nations Development Programme, Lt Gen N C Marwah (retired), and D N Sharma, Director of Health, Safety and Environment Group at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. "The committee wonders as to how the system in NDMA is functioning though it has so much vital role to play and responsibility to discharge. The Committee in this context recommends that NDMA should not procrastinate in filling up of vacant posts," the panel said in its report.

PM Narendra Modi acts as Chairperson of the NDMA. The Committee also apprehends that the approval of the National Disaster Management Plan may get stuck in the newly constituted NDMA as the new incumbents must be needing time to go through and understand it, the report says. The Panel says selection of NDMA members should be through an open and transparent process and a Search and Selection Committee may be constituted. "After all, appointments in those bodies are also made with the approval of PM and such prerogative is not subject to any challenge. The Committee is of the firm opinion that discretion should not, by any stretch of imagination, give suspicion in any mind," the committee has said in its report.

The committee has also questioned why the Prime Minister chose to announce the relief package after Cyclone Hudhud only for Andhra Pradesh. "The Committee apprehends that the people of Odisha may feel neglected in the absence of concrete assurance from the Central Government for financial assistance to meet the expenditure for medium term and long term reconstruction plan. The Committee is also of the view that financial assistance and psychological relief should go hand in hand and the Government must be very cautious in future in dealing with States affected by disasters," the report says.