Sir, In India 40 million hectares or 12% of our geographical areas is exposed to recurring floods. But there is something I would like to draw the attention of this House to, that is the changing course of the river. Technically it is not classified as a flood and there are no rehabilitation measures. All people who are affected by it are not getting any relief.
Sir, when we talk about natural calamities and preparedness, only 192 dams against 4728 dams have some kind of emergency action plans in place. The Central Water Commission provides in-flow focus for only 28 of them.
Sir, I do not know how much time it will take before we have the standard operating procedures for the deployment of the NDRF. My other colleagues before me have been saying that the NDMA had not been holding meetings regularly. Even when my colleague spoke on the Uttarakhand disaster, it was pointed out, we know we have not learnt from our mistakes.
Sir, we would like to mention here the situation in Bengal also. Almost 40% of our area is flood-prone. 111 blocks amounting to 37,660 sq km are prone to recurring floods. The steps that we have taken, we want to share with our esteemed colleagues because we think it will help them. Sir, we have now24X7 emergency operational centre in the State Secretariat, working round the clock. A disaster SMS alert system is to send warning signal to all officials up to the gram panchayats. There is Disaster Management team in all our police forces; all district head quarters have a quick response team under the DM. There is a close cooperation between disaster management, fire and civil defence. There is a Core Committee under the Chief Secretary which meets once during the month to review normal situations and preparedness.
My suggestions are that the National Disaster Response Fund and the National Disaster Mitigation Fund must be created at the earliest. The source of each fund and its linkage with the respective State Funds must be specified with the act of the rules. The Advisory Committee which had ceased to exist in 2010 has not been reconstituted. It is recommended that this committee should be reconstituted at the earliest as it forms a significant organ of NDMA giving it expert advice.
The National Institute of Disaster Management should function as an autonomous body in respect to its activities and human resource practice and not as a subordinate organization. Disaster Management set up of the district authorities can be strengthened so that district authorities so that the district authorities can be the first effective responders in case of a disaster.
Sir, we have suffered from Aila, we have suffered from so many things. We are doing but our efforts need Central Assistance. Even last week 60 trawlers have gone missing to certain cyclonic storm in Bay of Bengal. Hundreds of fishermen are still reported to be missing. Sir, we want that the National Disaster Force comes to the rescue and financial assistance extended to the kin of these people.