'Disaster management centres not operational'

The South Corporation is not serious about tackling disasters like earthquake as its four disaster management centres are either being used to house offices of other departments or are ill-equipped to deal with emergencies, said Leader of the Opposition Farhad Suri on Thursday.

It comes at a time when disaster preparedness have come under scanner after two devastating earthquakes that struck Nepal and parts of India. 

The Engineering Department of the civic agency admitted that the land allotted for the disaster management centre in Dwarka has been used to construct a two-story building for the House Tax Department. The 8,008-square-metre plot of land was given to the SDMC by the Delhi Development Authority on July 31, 2012, to construct a disaster management centre. 

However, about 1,000 square metres was used to make the building for the House Tax Department. There is a proposal to construct the disaster management centre on the remaining space, but the contract is yet to be awarded. “The open space in the plot is being used as a parking lot for the trucks/tippers deployed for garbage disposal of Najafgarh Zone,” a report said.

The four centres include Dwarka, R K Puram, Okhla and Najafgarh. They were set up by the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and the SDMC has not incurred any expenditure on equipment.

“Delhi falls in seismic zone IV but the BJP-ruled corporation is not worried. A recent survey has found that 80 per cent of the buildings are unsafe,” said Suri.   The BJP councillors said funding from the city government is required to build these centres. “But we have not got it yet,” said newly-elected mayor Subhash Arya.