IS NAGALAND DISASTER READY?

CAG finds ‘holes’ in State’s mitigation policy

Morung Express News
Kohima | August 5

Is Nagaland disaster ready? Not “adequately geared up,” was the verdict of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, based on its Compliance Audit on Disaster Management for the period ending March 31, 2019.

The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) under the Home department is not adequately geared up “for want of plans and a robust organisation capable and fully equipped with manpower and equipment to deal with disasters,” the CAG noted its latest audit report on the State. 

The Performance Audit and Compliance Audit of Government of Nagaland (GoN) under ‘General, Economic and Revenue Sector for the year ended March 31, 2019’ (Report No 2 0f 2020) was laid down at the ongoing 8th Session of 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly on August 5. 

As per the CAG, the Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2005 lays down the institutional framework for disaster management including disaster risk reduction at various levels, for drawing up the State and District plans for disaster management. 

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is to lay down policies and guidelines for the statutory authorities to draw their plans and formulates guidelines on various types of disasters and related issues, it said. 

Accordingly, the CAG undertook the “Compliance Audit on Disaster Management in the State,” implemented by the NSDMA covering the period 2014-19 and highlighted various concerns.  

‘Disastrous’?

Among others, during the audit period, the CAG observed that there was no planning activity for disaster management in the State. 

The State Disaster Management Plan and the District Disaster Management Plans (2012-13) had not been approved by the State Authority and none of the State Departments had prepared and submitted their Disaster Management Plans for approval to the NSDMA, it noted. 

“Structural designs of buildings in the State for protection against natural disasters of earthquake and others were not enforced as the State Government did not implement the Nagaland Building Bye Laws (NBBL) 2012,” it stated in another observation. 

In terms of creating awareness on disaster management, the NSDMA and DDMAs could conduct only one mock drill each in 2014-15 and 2018-19, 12 location specific programmes and 36 training programmes, the CAG said. 

It indicates the need to step-up awareness on disaster management amongst the citizens and governing agencies, it added. 

The CAG also faulted the NDSMA for failing to set-up a “proper communication augmentation plan with police/military authorities besides a dedicated alert and warning system for deployment during major disaster.” 

“The State Emergency Operation Centre continue to operate from a rented building Kohima since February 2017, without any video conferencing facilities,” it added. 

A  State contingency plan and details of NGO/responders to be contacted in event of disaster striking were also not in place while at district level, absence of facilities were noticed, reflecting ill preparedness in event of disasters, the CAG said.

“The NSDMA had not updated the India Disaster Resource Network (IDRN), a nationwide platform for management of equipment/resources with the facilities available in the State,” it said. 

In this connection, the CAG concluded that the NSDMA was “not adequately geared up to handle disasters in the State.”

It must be noted here that since audit period, the NSDMA activities appeared to have been increased including the conduct of Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPEX) with the objective of making “Nagaland a safer and resilient society.”

Funding Patterns 

Meanwhile, in terms of funding, the CAG noted that the NSDMA has spent Rs 327.57 crore against available funds of Rs 351.05 crore during the period 2014-19. 

“The un-spent funds at the end of each year had not been invested as per stipulated guidelines,” it said. 

The State Executive Committee (SEC) budget allocation for various activities as notified in July 2017 was not as per the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) guidelines of the Gol, it added. 

The State Government has not constituted District Disaster Response Fund and Disaster Mitigation Fund for both District and State as per the DMA 2005 impacting disaster response and mitigation activities at district level, the CAG further observed.   

“There were irregularities in 85 civil works executed by the NSDMA, noticed during joint physical verification by the audit, on account of doubtfiul works/unexecuted works, and land development of private individuals involving Rs 60 crore,” it added.