Penniless, but castles in the air
GOINGby the inertia of the National Disaster Management Authority, the recent cloudbursts in Ladakh and Uttarakhand are apparently not disasters. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is its Chairman while Gen NC Vij is Vice-Chairman. The NDMA is active only on its website and in files. Gen Vij has no funds to tackle disasters, yet he apparently dreams of creating a parallel system for disaster management rather than attempting to use the available infrastructure.
Gen Vij’s term ends in September and the hunt is on for a senior bureaucrat who will fit the bill.
