The city Corporation’s plan to pass a by-law for disaster management, one of the first such initiatives among local bodies in the State, got held up temporarily as Opposition councillors sought more clarity on the by-law, when it was presented at a council meeting here on Wednesday. The disagreements were mostly around the composition of the three-level disaster management team.
Team composition
At the top will be a 19-member city disaster management cell, with the Mayor as the chairperson and consisting of standing committee chairpersons and district administration officials.
At the second level is the five-member city crisis management team, headed by the Additional Secretary and with health and engineering wing officials. The eight-member crisis response team will be a trained team consisting of health inspectors and engineering-wing officials.
Bharatiya Janata Party councillor V. Girikumar wanted more clarity on the composition of the team and also requested for the inclusion of other councillors in the management cell. With more councillors raising disagreements, it was decided to convene an all-party meeting to finalise a by-law that was acceptable to all.
Wide-ranging plans
The by-law consisted of wide-ranging plans, including one for hospitals to have a proper disaster management plan to ensure the continuation of all emergency services during the times of disaster.
It also envisages initiatives to control flooding and to reduce the damage when disaster strikes.
The Opposition councillors also raised the issue of several flood-affected people in the Corporation area not getting the compensation of ₹10,000 that the government had earlier announced.
According to the councillor of Jagathy ward Sheeja Madhu, a majority of the flood-affected in her ward had not received any compensation as many had lived with their relatives instead of going to the camps.
Similar complaints were raised by councillors from a few other wards.
They said that those who had not got the compensation would also not get the interest-free loan of ₹1 lakh announced by the State government.
In his reply, Mayor V.K. Prashant said a total of 1,561 people in the Corporation had got the compensation. He said the cases of the rest who did not get it would be enquired.
