Govt reconstitutes platform for disaster risk reduction

The government has reconstituted the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) with Union Home Minister Amit Shah as its chairperson and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, among others, as its members.

The NPDRR is a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral decision making body on disaster management.

In a notification, the Home Ministry said the functions of the NPDRR will be to review the progress made in the field of disaster management from time to time, appraise the extent and manner in which the disaster management policy has been implemented by the central and state governments, and other agencies concerned, and advise on coordination between the central and state governments.

The minister of state in-charge of disaster management in the Home Ministry and the vice-chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority will be the NPDRR’s vice-chairpersons.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, and Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri are among its members.

The minister of each state government and union territory dealing with disaster management, a member of the state disaster management authority, mayors of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and municipal commissioners of these cities will also be its members.

Ten chairpersons of urban local bodies, to be nominated by the urban development ministry, 10 representatives of Panchayat Raj institutions, to be nominated by the Panchayat Raj Ministry, four Lok Sabha members, two Rajya Sabha members, and the Union Home Secretary and secretaries of departments concerned will be the NPDRR’s ex-officio members, the notification said.

The Lok Sabha members will be nominated by the speaker and those from the Rajya Sabha by the chairman.