Punjab’s disaster response caught in fund crunch

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 27

Though mild, the recent tremors have exposed Punjab’s “inefficiency” in handling natural calamities.

Sameer Kumar, Director of the Punjab Disaster Management Authority, said the 22 DCs and the state police were sufficient to ensure safety, but quake-prone thickly populated state recently removed its 33 disaster management personnel it hired in December 2011.

Citing paucity of funds, the government removed its disaster response centre professionals on March 24 and assigned their work to DCs, SDMs and Revenue Department officials.

Sources said the ousted personnel had good knowledge of how to manage disasters and had also been holding mock drills and awareness drives.

Being close to the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, Punjab is located in a particularly sensitive zone and scientists have also expressed repeated concerns of high intensity movements in the faults of the belt. Experts say Punjab isn’t even abiding by the National Building Codes.

Brigadier (Dr) BK Khanna, former senior consultant of the National Disaster Management Authority, said: “Punjab has taken steps to manage disasters but they are not adequate. In case of an earthquake, vast devastation can take place in cities such as Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana.”

He said: “Punjab falls in the seismic zone 4, which is extremely vulnerable. The MBT runs just north of Punjab through Mandi and Chamoli areas. Punjab will be majorly hit if a high intensity earthquake occurs. Any construction taking place in the state should be considered with respect to the movement of tectonic plates.”

Prof Manmohan Singh Gill, who is associated with the All India Disaster Management and Peace Organisation which mobilises earthquake (and other disaster) prevention efforts, said: “There is a dearth of trained disaster management professionals in Punjab. I have personally been asked by the government many times to collect the data on disaster management but I don’t know what is being done with it.”

Revenue Financial Commissioner Karan Avtar Singh said: “A special disaster management force comprising nearly 500 police personnel is based in Mohali which is competent to fight an eventuality in the time of disaster. We have been taking all required measures to deal with an earthquake. Similarly, such measures are also being taken on the health front.”