The Hindu : Kerala News : Disaster management policy must for World Bank aid

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 30, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Disaster management policy must for World Bank aid

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 29. Kerala will lose around Rs. 100 crores in World Bank assistance for cyclone risk mitigation programmes if it does not put in place a disaster management policy and constitute a State-level steering committee under the Chief Secretary to oversee all connected activities.

The Union Home Secretary, Dhirendra Singh, had written to the State on December 14, 2004, saying that Kerala would be eligible for assistance under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation (NCRM) Project only if it took the appropriate measures without fail. The estimated outlay of the NCRM Project is around Rs. 1,400 crores and is likely to go up in view of the tsunami havoc that hit South India. The World Bank Project Appraisal Mission is scheduled to visit India for discussions on the project in the last week of January.

Kerala and Goa are the only States that have not yet responded to repeated letters from the Union Home Ministry on the subject. All the other States have already got in touch with the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), which functions under the Home Ministry, to put up their proposals. Apart from these two States, the NCRM Project will cover Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat and the United Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Daman and Diu.

Cyclone shelters

One of the project elements is to support the States and Union Territories to implement high-priority activities for cyclone risk mitigation such as construction of cyclone shelters, shelterbelt plantation, preservation/regeneration of mangrove forests, construction of embankments and missing road links and commissioning of technical assistance/studies to sustain these initiatives, besides strengthening coastal zone management framework in the States and Union Territories. The States are expected to draw up projects according to their needs for effective mitigation of cyclone risks.

The Union Home Secretary had written to the States on November 11 asking them to make appropriate budgetary provisions, identify and prioritise investment proposals for cyclone risk mitigation and put in place a State-level Steering Committee under the Chief Secretary, besides a State-level disaster management policy in order to avail assistance under the project.

The funding will be in the proportion of 25:75 with the States bearing 25 per cent of the cost of implementing the NCRM Project and the Centre bearing the remaining expenditure.

The Home Ministry and the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) are keeping a close watch on the progress being made by Kerala in formulation of the disaster management policy for which guidelines had been issued by the Home Ministry much earlier.

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