Early Times Report
JAMMU, Apr 4: Brushing aside the norms under Disaster Management Act, the State Government has failed to carry out capacity building activities to strengthen disaster management in the State which can be well gauged from the fact that out of Rs 12 crore released by Government of India, the State Government could only spend Rs 2 crore.
Sources told Early Times that the as per Disaster Management Act, 2005, which envisages promoting general education, awareness and community training about disasters and building capacity to combat disasters as an important pre-disaster activity. Further, the Standard Operating Procedures prescribed by Government of India envisaged mock drills by search and rescue teams at State level to test their preparedness.
"Government of India had allocated Rs 20 cr for the purpose of building capacity such as procurement of equipment for rescue and relief, establishment of early warning system in the district headquarters, creation of public awareness for pre-disaster preparedness and for imparting training to various stakeholders. Of this, Rs 12 crore was released by Center but the State Government could utilize only Rs 2 crore as a result the balance Rs 8 crore were not released by Center," they informed.
They further said that out of Rs 6 crore released to the Revenue Department for pre-disaster management activities, RS 29 lakh were utilized and balance amount of Rs 5.73 crore was surrendered. Similarly, Rs 32 lakh released through sanctioned to the Technical Education Department for skill upgradation of workers had not been utilized.
"Shockingly, Rs 25 lakh meant for 'capacity building' for disaster management was spent by the Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Department on procurement of vehicles during 2014-15 which was not covered under capacity building", they said and further informed that thought chapter on disaster management had been included in the academic curriculum by the State Board of School Education and certain initiatives were taken such as conducting training programs on various aspects of disaster management and training of sarpanches, divisional level officers, engineers and volunteers, no steps were taken to increase public awareness about risk mitigation strategies and mock drills were not organized for any type of calamity, disaster to sensitize the relief machinery as preparedness measures. |
