New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to have professionals as its members and this central body should not been seen as a "parking lot" for retired politicians, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said in New Delhi on Monday.
The Minister of State for Home, who is in-charge of this subject, said while making these new policy changes in the constitution of NDMA, the Modi government was very serious as one cannot "play with the lives of the people" by making wrong appointments to this body.
"The NDMA which is a main institution in our national- level policy framework and which came into existence by an Act in Parliament and the Prime Minister is its Chairman and there are members and there are officials. But how was it functioning? I was responding to a question in Parliament that we definitely do not want to make the members in NDMA as parking lot for the retired politicians or for political adjustments. We cannot afford to do that.
"Honourable PM (while referring to Modi) was very clear that we must make NDMA very effective and efficient. All the members should be professionals and they must respond to the Act. We cannot take it as a right for political juggernauts and understandings...so that somebody has to be adjusted so that the post (in NDMA) has been created. We cannot play with the lives of people," Rijiju said while addressing delegates of a regional SAARC workshop on the said subject.
He said PM Modi is very serious when it comes to dealing with calamities, whether man-made or natural.
"I am very fortunate and very happy that our PM is very very concerned and the way he has responded to disasters in the last six-and-a-half months it is there for the world to see," Rijiju said.
The Minister lauded the manner in which the Prime Minister dealt with natural disasters in Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Last month, the government had issued advertisements making it clear that the practise of appointing politicians and retired bureaucrats with no background of disaster management will be discontinued and domain experts adept in handling man-made and natural crisis will be hired.
Inviting applications for appointment as members of the NDMA, the Home Ministry had said aspirants must have administrative, superintendence and management experience of disaster-situation, mitigation efforts and similar knowledge.
The Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairperson of the body and during UPA rule, the NDMA vice-chairperson enjoyed the rank of a Union Cabinet Minister while members enjoyed the status of Ministers of State.
However, the Modi government, in its announcement, downgraded the posts and made the post of vice-chairperson equivalent to the union cabinet secretary and members equivalent to union government secretary.
It has also reduced the number of members on this panel from nine to four.
