Karnataka rains: Vacant posts hurt disaster response

BENGALURU: Delays in appointing officials to some key positions are affecting Karnataka’s disaster response at a time when torrential rains are causing damage and misery in several districts. The problem has been seen over the past three years under different governments. During the period, the state suffered multiple natural calamities, from drought to floods, that claimed hundreds of lives.
The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre has been without a full-time director since June, when GS Srinivasa Reddy left the post and retired. The BS Yediyurappa government has started the recruitment process, but has been unable to find a candidate with multidisciplinary expertise in domains such as metrology, geology, agriculture and irrigation. Twenty applicants were considered without success. Reddy is now back as a senior consultant, though there are concerns how effective the decision-making will be in the disaster monitoring centre since his role is advisory in nature.
“The state is going to miss an important link in the process of flood management and its plans will be directionless as the monitoring centre doesn’t have a full-time boss,” said Himamshu Thakkar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People. “The government should have found a replacement much earlier. That would have helped the centre frame strong preventive measures. The government must quickly fill up the post.”
Successive governments have failed to strengthen agencies involved in disaster management and mitigation. Thakkar noted that the monitoring centre had a unique role as it provided an overview of all 13 major reservoirs in Karnataka with real-time analysis and tracked rainfall and other weather parameters. Karnataka is the only state to have such a dedicated body.
Asking existing officials to fill in temporarily is not a great strategy as they may struggle to devote the same attention and energy to multiple departments.
Manoj Rajan, commissioner of the Karnataka Disaster Management Authority, is also officiating as the monitoring centre’s director. He is juggling multiple responsibilities — special secretary for food processing, mission director of integrated farming mission and managing director and CEO of Rashtriya e-Market Services Pvt Ltd.
Rajan is not the only senior officer with his hands full. Revenue principal secretary N Manjunath Prasad was recently handed the additional charge of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). He has taken over as the municipal commissioner at a time when the pandemic is peaking in the state capital.
Anjum Parvez is the revenue secretary for disaster management as well as the transport secretary.