JOIN USThe Congress on Monday thanked the Union government for providing help and support to the people of quake-hit Nepal, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay an “immediate attention” to finalisation of a disaster management and mitigation plan for Delhi which falls in high risk seismic zone.
The Opposition party said that Delhi urgently needed such plan in place as more than 50 per cent of houses built in the national capital region were not “earthquake proof”.
“While the entire world is reeling from the tragedy in Nepal and parts of India, it is equally alarming to see that Delhi and the national capital region (NCR) has no approved state disaster management and mitigation plan,” Congress leader Susmita Dev said at a press conference in the Parliament Complex.
The NCR, which houses about 3 crore people in extremely high density, does not have “any concrete plan of action” to mitigate disaster caused by earthquakes even as the region falls in Zone V of susceptibility.
“The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) formulated a draft policy way back in March 2014 and the National Disaster Management Authority has seen presentations on it but since March 2014. But, there has been no progress in finalising the report,” she added.
Dev underlined that both the Centre and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was headed by the prime minister, requesting Modi to pay “immediate attention” to finalise the disaster management and mitigation plan.
While the Congress appreciated Modi government’s response to the earthquake and “saluted” the rescue and relief measures being taken by the Armed forces, doctors, para medics and people in general, the Opposition party took serious exception to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sakshi Maharaj’s remark that earthquake struck the Himalaya region because Rahul Gandhi recently visited Kedarnath.
“In a most unfortunate and petty manner, certain habitual motormouth offenders of the BJP—cohorts of the prime minister and BJP president Amit Shah—are trying to communalise and politicise a grave human tragedy. Sakshi Maharaj is now ascribing ascribing the earthquake in Nepal to Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Bhagwan Kedarnath,” Dev said.
She demanded that prime minister should take “immediate action” against the Maharaj for making such a “rabid” remark against Gandhi.
Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote to Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala to expressed grief and solidarity over the massive earthquake which tormented the Himalayan country.