Centre to set up panel on disaster management

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB 3. The Government today agreed to set up a permanent Disaster Management Committee at the Centre, comprising leaders of major political parties as well experts to help the Government in dealing with national calamities. It was also decided to set up a committee of political parties to monitor and help the relief effort in Gujarat in the aftermath of the earthquake.

The decision came at an all-party meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and attended by leaders of 19 political parties, here this afternoon.

The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, later told reporters the Government had no hesitation in agreeing to the two suggestions, after a consensus emerged. The proposal for a permanent disaster management committee was made by the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, while Mr. Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) suggested the setting up of committee of parties to monitor relief effort.

Mr. Mahajan said the committee to monitor relief work would be set up in the next couple of days, and it would be an informal one. However, no time-frame had been fixed for the setting up of the permanent disaster management committee. The Government expected the committee to help it evolve norms and guidelines for declaring a disaster a ``national calamity''. ``At the moment there is no provision for the declaration of national calamity, the assistance to the area affected purely assessing the damage caused to it.''

Though all parties reiterated their support to the relief efforts in Gujarat, most of them were critical of the State Government's handling of the situation. The Congress, Left parties, the AIADMK, the RJD, and even some of the BJP's allies such as the TDP and the DMK were said to have taken a dim view of the way the relief operation was handled.

The TDP's Mr. K. Yerran Naidu pointed to the ``poor distribution of relief materials'', while Mr. Pandian of the AIADMK said the Government must clear the suspicion in the minds of the people about the distribution of relief material. Mr. Yechury said the State Government was virtually paralysed and should be assisted by the Centre as well the Governments of neighbouring States.

I-T surcharge must be graded

The CPI(M) also objected to the across-the-board application of the 2 per cent surcharge on income tax, and instead suggested it be graded. Mr. Yechury urged the Prime Minister to ensure that the ``beneficiaries of the surcharge were the poor while the rich were made to pay''. Mr. Vajpayee said the Government was only implementing what had been suggested by the 11th Finance Commission.

Mr. Janeswar Mishra (SP), Mr. Raghuvansh Prasad (RJD) and Dr. Prasana Kumar Patasani (BJD) objected to the Government's unilateral announcements on the surcharge, as well as the decision to amend the MPLADS scheme. The BJD member pointed out that when the supercyclone struck Orissa no such provision was made and the Centre had not been as forthcoming as it was in the case of Gujarat.

The Government also came in for some embarrassment on the booklet prepared for the meeting, which only listed the aid and assistance given by the BJP-ruled States. After Mr. Nilotpal Basu and the DMK and TDP members raised the issue, the Prime Ministers had to intervene and assure them that before the booklet was made public he would see to it that all States which had given aid found a mention.

Govt. must speak in one voice

Mr. Raghuvansh Prasad of the RJD said it was important that the Government speak in one voice in such a situation. The ``Finance Minister says no tax, the Prime Minister says there will be extra tax, the Railway Minister rules out new taxes but the PM contradicts her, the Defence Minister says over one lakh have died but the other Ministers give different figures,'' he said.

Besides Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Mahajan, the Government was represented by the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, the Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, Mr. Nitish Kumar and Mr. C. P. Thakur. Among the prominent Opposition leaders were Dr. Manmohan Singh (Congress), Mr. Sharad Pawar (NCP) and Mr. S. R. Bommai.

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