Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA

accuses various management tiers of complacency that, with a few exceptions,
varied only in degree, they cannot be exclusively blamed.
51. Whether that was due to professional inadequacies, lack of awareness or
commitment, no cogent explanation or material was produced on the subject.
That was also valid with respect to various other institutional parameters and
frameworks for developing / reviewing guidelines contemplated by the following
extant laws, The Canal and Drainage Act 1873 as adopted by the Provinces,
Minors Canals Act 1935, Punjab Soil Reclamation Act 1952, Balochistan
Irrigation Ordinance 1980, Punjab Water User Associations Ordinance
1981, IRSA Act 1992, four Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authority Acts
of 1997 and Environment Protection Acts of 1997. At least, these were not
shared with the Commission except KP, despite specific reference. The NDMA
is not only legally under obligation to oversee pre-disaster phase preparations; it
has yet to carve its niche for a systematic overview of the entire flood matrix to
chalk out a disaster specific action plan, following the wisdom that ‘those who
sweat more during peace bleed less during war’. The Commission noted with
satisfaction that the NDMA has taken in hand formulation of a National Plan with
JICA’s technical assistance.
52. The position in PDMAs and DDMAs was slightly different; while these
bodies had sketched general outlines of their skeleton plans, with clearly
demarcated roles and division of responsibilities for respective field outfits,
including Civil Defence, their professional reviews and revisiting would enhance
utility, and make these more meaningful and comprehensive management tools,
worthy of responding to disasters situations including flood, road accidents,
accidental fires, collapse of dilapidated buildings in urban areas or earthquakes
or even a nuclear accident, etc God forbid. The deficiencies observed during
2010 flood offer a rich experience to realign the District Plans in the light of
Provincial guidelines, under the national level umbrella of the NDMA framework.
Much more is needed to be done.
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