The Hindu  01.10.2010

Disaster management plan for Tiruchi in three months

S.Ganesan

chalking out:Collector T. Soundiah speaking at the training of community representatives of NGOs on CBRM and preparation of CBDM plans in Tiruchi on Thursday.

TIRUCHI: A disaster management plan for Tiruchi City would be prepared within the next three months under the Urban Risk Reduction Programme (URRP), a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Union government.

The plan would lay down the standard operating procedure for emergency response, draw up an action plan for handling disasters and suggest ways to minimise losses in terms of lives, property and environment. Disasters of all kinds, including earthquakes, floods, fires and even epidemics, would be covered under the programme.

A hazard risk vulnerability assessment would also be prepared within the next three months under the programme to identify vulnerable and disaster prone areas, D.Babu Deva Irakkam, Project Officer, URRP, told The Hindu here on Thursday on the sidelines of a training organised for NGOs under the programme.

Inputs from all stakeholders including all government line departments, elected representatives of voluntary organisations and even architects would go into the plan and they would also be involved in the implementation of the URRP, Mr.Deva Irakkam said.

The URRP is a three-year programme, commencing 2010, sanctioned for Tiruchi and Madurai cities. At the district level, disaster risk reduction programmes have been taken up in Tiruvallur, Nagapattinam and the Nilgiris district, he said.

For Tiruchi city, Rs.10 lakhs has been sanctioned for capacity building and training in the first six months of the programme. The programme aims at institutional strengthening, capacity building, awareness creation and mainstreaming of the URRP into development initiatives.

Disaster management authorities have been formed at the national and state level. District level disaster management authorities are also on the anvil, he said.

On Thursday, representatives from about 30 leading NGOs were given training on preparation of community based risk management and community based disaster management plans for their respective areas of operation. The focus of the training and the role of the NGOs would be on pre-disaster rather than post-disaster activities, Mr.Deva Irakkam said.

Collector T.Soundiah, who inaugurated the training, emphasised the need for capacity building for effective handling of disasters. He suggested that self help groups be involved in pre and post disaster management activities.

Corporation Commissioner T.T.Balsamy, V.Natarajan, Implementing Officer, URRP, and others spoke.

The Times of India  01.10.2010

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Information Commission has pulled up the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) for violating the provisions of the RTI Act by suppressing documents relating to an alleged post-facto building plan permission granted to the 12-storied IIT Madras Research Park in Taramani.

In a recent order, state chief information commissioner S Ramakrishnan (since retired) and information commissioner G Ramakrishnan said: "The commission will uphold the complaint. The member-secretary, CMDA, is directed to file the explanation of the public information officer before the commission within three weeks as to why penalty as per the (RTI) Act should not be imposed upon him."

The information commission also sought to know why further action should not be recommended against the CMDA's public information officer for making a false statement that the information sought for was not available.

Two years ago, E Muralidharan, a Chennai-resident, had submitted an application to the CMDA under the RTI Act asking if the agency had granted building plan approval to the IIT Madras to construct various multi-storied buildings, including the IIT Research Park, on its campus. Initially, the CMDA responded that the IIT Madras authorities had not filed any application seeking plan permission.

Muralidharan said he had learnt that the CMDA had granted post-facto plan approval for the IIT Madras Research Park and sought to inspect the documents to ascertain on what basis the agency had granted the permission.

"As per the Madras high court ruling, buildings constructed in violation of the CMDA guidelines beyond February 22, 1999, cannot be regularised under any circumstances. I wanted to know how the CMDA had granted post-facto approval for the Research Park building which was completed only this year," Muralidharan said.

When the CMDA refused to furnish the information, he filed an appeal before the state information commission.
"At the enquiry, the public information officer, CMDA, stated that no records are available and they have told him (Muralidharan) that no planning permission is required as per Section 49 of Town and Country Planning Act. But there is no such statement in the said Act. It is clear that planning permission is required," the commission said in its order and upheld the appeal.