The report of CAG on the performance of the State Disaster Management Authority for the year ending March 31 2016, now before the Legislative Assembly, is a horrible indictment of the Authority one would be shocked to know. The report speaks off nepotism, open, hidden and semi-transparent without the exception of a single area of its activity. Illegal diversion of funds, utilization of funds in illegal expenditures, misappropriation of funds, theft of tents, blankets, relief material meant for flood sufferers, fake list of victims to whom relief money has gone, in short take whatever aspect of the Authority you may, there is fraud, deceit, misrepresentation and general loot of Government funds. Good deal of money passed on to Divisional or District Commissioners for various relief and developmental work remain unutilized in their departmental bank accounts and nobody has cared to make use of these funds for the purpose for which these have been provided. We may not be wrong to say that the Disaster Management Authority has, practically turned into Disaster Creating Authority with impunity.
The broad inference one may draw from this sordid and anti-people functioning of the State Disaster Management Authority stems from two things; one is absence of regular monitoring of its administration and the second is that each functionary is busy with innovating sways and means of embezzling the funding by finding expenditure heads that would yield as little an information on expenditures as is possible. The Authority has no policy of how to manage a disaster of particular nature, not necessarily caused by roaring floods. It has no adequate manpower and not much skilled and trained staff that would function dependably when a disaster happens. And of the small and inadequate staff that has been provided, many employees are deployed to work at the private homes of the officer cadres thus making a mockery of the entire organization.
Firstly, there has to be a scientific method of assessing the exact nature, magnitude and impact of a disaster that has happened. It should not get bogged with the why of the floods or fire or epidemic or other disaster but should concentrate on its impact. To elucidate the point, in the aftermath of September 2014 floods in the Valley, more than one agency was deployed to conduct survey and reflect on the magnitude of the disaster. Their individual assessment reports admitted great variance which became a contentious issue among the stakeholders with the result that the Union Government was in a tizzy which of the reports would be considered realistic. In order to avoid such an embarrassing situation taking place in the after of a disaster, a well qualified and trained assessment team should be in place who besides being fully knowledgeable on the geography and topography of the State are also equipped with rich experience. Secondly, why should not an administrative action be taken for diverting the funds meant for disaster control to other heads which is strictly disallowed by the State as well as the Central Government? Diversion of funds is a major mechanism of corruption and misuse of funds. The Government will have to plug it if it is sincere in bringing relief to those suffering from disaster. What we meet with at present is general embezzlement of funds right and left and with impunity.
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