Ex-Vice-Chairman of NDMA asks PM to reconstitute the body

NEW DELHI: Former Vice-Chairman of NDMA M Shashidhar Reddy has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconstitute the disaster mitigation body saying keeping it dormant has not gone down well with people.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Reddy said it was difficult to understand why the National Disaster Management Authority has been left vacant and dormant for last three months after resignation of all its members, including he himself as Vice-Chairman.

"People of the country have started expecting a lot from this organisation. We have faced several disasters of varying nature in last three months. Unfortunately NDMA has been missing from centre stage. This has not gone down well generally with anyone," he said.

Reddy asked Modi to reconstitute the NDMA as early as possible so that it can deal with any disaster facing the country.

The NDMA has been virtually defunct even since Modi government asked the Reddy-led body to put in their papers in June.

Apart from Reddy, those who had quit include members - former Director General of CRPF J K Sinha, CISF Director General K M Singh, former Civil Aviation Secretary K N Shrivastava, Maj Gen (Retd) J K Bansal, former Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre B Bhattacharjee and former CBI Special Director K Salim Ali.

Meanwhile, last week the government downgraded the posts of the Vice-Chairman of NDMA from the rank of Union Cabinet Minister to the Cabinet Secretary and members, who were enjoying the rank of Union Minister of State, to the Secretary of the Union Government.

The decision to downgrade the posts of the NDMA office- bearers was taken by the Home Ministry in consultation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Prime Minister is the Chairman of the NDMA. The government is expected to reconstitute the NDMA soon and as per plans, the Authority would have just four or five members with the Prime Minister as the Chairman.

None of these members would be politician but persons with technical knowledge who can help the government in disaster mitigation and rescue efforts, sources said.