Disaster management authority likely to be established in state

hyderabad:the state government is planning to set up a disaster management authority and chief minister n chandrababu naidu has taken a tentative decision in this regard, principal secretary (revenue) a v s reddy said on tuesday. addressing a one-day seminar on help yourself on the occasion of the disaster reduction day,reddy said the centre was also planning to set up a national disaster management authority.all the states have been asked create such entities, he said. this process has speeded up after the september 11 terrorist attacks in the us, he said. the state authority would have linkages with various departments involved in disaster management and relief.the proposed authority would act only as an adviser to the government and its activities would not clash with the duties and responsibilities of the relief commissioner, he said. reddy requested revenue minister p ashok gajapathi raju to look into the possibility of providing incentives to officials to work in the relief department as most officials disliked working in that department. referring to man-made disasters, he said the recent cuddapah floods were a good example of this. part of the buggavanka river bed was given out as patta land following pressure from politicians a few years ago, he said. where were they when the flash flood happened? he asked. gajapathi raju called on the gathering to shun the mentality of collective irresponsibility and focus on how to bring about a change in attitude so that one can be of help to another.we have to open our minds and see how we can solve the problem, he said.the minister also said that roles of each person and organisation involved in disaster mitigation and management need to be defined. brig d v rao (retd), who heads the centre for environment and disaster management in ap academy of rural development, said it was the people who have to be told how to face such problems. the right to life guaranteed under court comprising justice bilal nazki guarantee under the constitution.