TN disaster forum in snooze mode

COIMBATORE: On Wednesday, when panic spread across TN and other States in the wake of tremors and a tsunami alert, the State machinery was quick to respond to meet any contingency.However, while the emergency response was near-foolproof, it would surprise many that since Oct 15, 2008, when the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) was established under the Disaster Management Act 2005, the Authority has not met even once.The SDMA was constituted with the CM (then M Karunanidhi) as the chairperson and eight members, including the Revenue Minister, Chief Secretary, Secretaries of the Departments of Home, Revenue, Finance and a technical expert each from the IIT Madras and Anna University.But the SDMA has remained only on paper. “The framework of the government has remained unclear with regard to the functioning of the SDMA. We have not even met once formally for a meeting. From what I could gather, we have to work at a policy level and not deal with the day-to-day working,” a member of the SDMA told ‘Express’ on Thursday.Its primary role is to lay down policies and plans for disaster management in the State and recommend provision of funds.Senior government officials acknowledged that the SDMA had not formally met yet.However, a member of the SDMA defended it saying that adequate systems were in place to react to an emergency situation in TN. “All the members of the Authority need not be called for a every meeting,” he said adding that the Disaster Management Act imposed several constraints and limitations making its implementation difficult for States.“Now the Centre has set up a task force headed by former union agriculture secretary P K Mishra to review the Disaster Management Act,” he pointed out. According to a Union Home Ministry official, the task force has been mandated to gather information from all States and stakeholders through consultation and workshops regarding their concerns in implementing the provisions of the Act. “The States can suggest necessary improvements required to remove the bottlenecks in the Act,” he said.The Task Force has also circulated a questionnaire to the States seeking their response backed by evidence from their experiences. “The responses have to be sent by April 15. We have covered every issue relating to disaster management and the need for provisions to penalise officials who fail to put in place an effective disaster management system,” the official explained.