New Delhi: The devastating floods in Kerala, which have taken a toll of some 370 people and displaced more than 780,000, have put the spotlight back on the poor condition of the two primary disaster management agencies in the country—the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)—even as the home ministry maintained that they were “discharging their roles to the best of their abilities under the disaster management act.”
In July last year, Delhi high court had pulled up the ministry for failing to fill key posts in both institutions, which had been lying vacant since 2015, even asking why the ministry had not wound up both institutions if it “did not want to fill key posts.”
The Centre, however, refuted the charges, labelling them “baseless.”
“There are four members in the NDMA and weekly meetings are held regularly, where all the members and joint secretaries discuss the implementation of various schemes, programmes and other issues related to disaster management,” the home ministry had informed the court in December last year.
However, currently, there continue to be 16 vacant posts in NIDM, which had yet to be filled.
“Presently against 57 sanctioned posts in NIDM, 41 posts are already filled. The reservation roster of NIDM is under scrutiny of the Reservation Cell of MHA (ministry of home affairs). On verification, NIDM will take further action to fill the vacant posts through promotion or direct recruitment as per the notified rules,” the ministry said in a statement to Parliament in February this year.
When contacted, central government officials remained evasive in their response.
“Everything is on track and the ministry is looking into it. We are functioning smoothly and no operations are being hindered in Kerala or any other disaster zone, like Assam, last year,” informed a senior central government official, on condition of anonymity.