NEW DELHI: A whopping sum of Rs. 10,000 crores would be required over the next three years for constructing roads and bridges, restoring power and social welfare infrastructure, coastal protection and other related works in the tsunami-hit areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, informed Rajya Sabha on Monday.

The Minister said money was being released to the States in a phased manner and the Centre was directly taking care of rehabilitation, construction of shelters, dwelling units, schools, and restoring infrastructure in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which was the worst-hit territory in the December 26, 2004 tsunami. Replying to a short discussion on the destruction caused by the tsunami, the Home Minister said a core group in the Planning Commission was interacting with experts and agencies in the affected States to recommend the kind of jetties and airports to be constructed and provide consultancy to State Governments on town planning and building of infrastructure and shelters. Work would begin soon after the Union Cabinet approved the group's detailed report.

Mr. Patil said the National Disaster Management Bill might be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The Bill would strengthen and fine tune measures to deal with the situation arising out of natural calamities. Noting that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was "very keen" to provide a statutory policy framework for responding to natural disasters, Mr. Patil said the Cabinet had passed a resolution to set up a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) till the Bill was passed by Parliament.

While at the national level, the NDMA would be headed by the Prime Minister and have 10 members as experts, at the State level it would be headed by the Chief Minister. It was decided to set aside eight battalions of paramilitary personnel who would be trained to help victims in various disasters.

Early warning system

Mr. Patil said if NGOs showed interest in constructing houses and schools in the affected villages, the Government would provide them land. The Government had also decided to set up an early warning system to tackle natural disasters. The technology required for the purpose was not fully developed and the Department of Ocean Development was working on the Rs. 125 crore project.

The Home Minister said constructing a wall along the entire seacoast was not feasible. The Government could consider constructing walls in certain stretches of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu which had suffered extensive damage. It could be on the lines of the Marine Drive in Mumbai. The Government would encourage mangrove afforestation along the coast as it had the ability to prevent erosion and surging waters in the event of tidal waves.

Members demanded strengthening of the monitoring mechanism and setting up of early warning and disaster management systems.

Those who participated in the discussion included A. Vijayaraghavan (CPI-M), V. Narayanasamy (Congress), Ravulu Chandra Sekar Reddy (TDP), Vayalar Ravi (Cong), N.K. Premachandran (RSP), K. Malaisamy (AIADMK), E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan (Cong), R. Shanmugasundaram (DMK) and Gireesh Kumar Sanghi (Congress).

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