No disaster advisory panel in Telangana; Supreme Court angry

Hyderabad: The Centre has, on the directions of the Supreme Court, sent a notice to the Telangana state government for not constituting an advisory committee for disaster management preparedness.

The Supreme Court made serious comments on the Centre and state governments on this issue.

According to Section 17 of the Disaster Management Act, state governments have to set up advisory committees comprising experts in disaster management. The Act state that a state authority “may, as and when it considers necessary, constitute an advisory committee consisting of experts in the field of disaster management and having practical experience of disaster management to make recommendations on different aspects of disaster management”. 

TS and AP are among the states that have not set up the committees. The Supreme Court asked the Centre: “What are you waiting for? Why have you not asked states to constitute advisory committee? Are you waiting for another disaster to happen or are you waiting for people to die in a disaster?”

The Centre had written to state governments on this issue but no state had responded.

The Centre has issued a notice to TS and some other state governments, seeking an explanation on why they had not set up the committee. 

The apex court also pulled up TS and AP for not preparing a state disaster management plan, asking why they had not taken the law enacted by Parliament seriously. 

TS disaster management officials confirmed that they had received a notice from the Centre and added that they had responded. The officials added that the TS disaster management department had set up a State Executive Council with experts on disaster management for the same purpose, which is why there was no need for a separate advisory committee.