Maharashtra moots disaster-linked insurance, storm-water mgmt regulations

* In the 220-page draft of State Disaster Management Plan, the State Government outlines various measures to be taken in case of natural or manmade disasters 

By Kartik Lokhande 

After a long gap, Maharashtra Government has come up with a draft of revised State Disaster Management Plan (SDMP) in true sense of the term ‘revision’. The draft plan, which borrows some ideas from SDMP of Gujarat, spells out several new measures like disaster-linked insurance, storm-water management regulations, making available fire-fighting services in rural areas etc. 

The draft SDMP, which runs into 220 pages, contains detailed guidelines for various departments ranging from Fire and Emergency Services Department to local bodies to Health Department. It also focusses on effective co-ordination between different agencies viz. Indian Meteorological Department, National Disaster Response Force, Central Water Commission, Indian Space Research Organisation, Ministry of Defence etc. Besides the past disasters experienced by Maharashtra -- floods, chemical hazards, landslides, fires, cyclone etc -- the SDMP also has taken into consideration nuclear-chemical-biological disasters. 

Though several guidelines are standard, there are certain new aspects. For instance, it talks of disaster-linked insurance cover not only for life but also for household goods, cattle, structures, and crops. “The introduction of disaster-linked insurance should be actively pursued,” it states. As the insurance premiums are based on location of a structure within disaster-prone areas and are determined primarily by the extent of risk, higher rates may be applied to structures subject to high risk. 

As part of strategies for introducing disaster insurance for various structures, SDMP stresses upon the need for ‘more stringent enforcement’ by lenders of mandatory purchase requirements, increasing public awareness of hazards, imposing ‘risk disclosure requirements’ on real-estate agents, offering special insurance coverage and policy riders, and maintaining premiums at affordable levels. The draft SDMP also desires exploring possibilities of making available group/community insurance particularly to marginalised communities. 

Another major aspect dealt with in the draft SDMP is problems like waterlogging etc faced by citizens in urban areas. “Rapid urbanisation has led to higher concentrations of people living in hazardous areas and consequently to higher losses when disasters occur. As urbanisation also alters the response of a watershed to rainfall, many large cities of the region are becoming increasingly vulnerable to flooding,” it points out. 

Against this backdrop, it is suggested in the draft SDMP to promote appropriate land use in the disaster-prone areas by harmonising land suitability with agricultural development strategies. High investment industries and installations, as well as important infrastructural elements should not be located in areas that are susceptible to disaster impact, it adds. Interestingly, it talks of ‘separation’ of industrial units from residential areas, and fire-prone industries from other industries with onus on licensing authorities to examine locational aspects. 

Also, the draft SDMP has floated the idea of local bodies having specific storm-water management regulations into zoning and sub-division regulations, housing and building codes, and resource protection regulations. The regulations, it states, should include ‘not permitting’ unrestricted new development in hazard-prone areas, anchoring and flood-proofing structures to be built in known flood-prone areas, built-in safeguards for new water and sewage systems and utility lines from flooding, enforcing risk zone, base flood elevation, and flood-way requirements, prohibiting development in wetlands, and prescribing standards for different flood zones on flood maps. This also includes mapping the extent of land covered, depth, severity, damage caused by flood-waters in the past 20 years. 

As far as dealing with the fire incidents is concerned, the draft SDMP stresses upon making available fire-fighting services in rural areas and assisting municipal authorities not having fire brigade to establish such service, encouraging Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees and co-operatives in rural areas to establish their fire services. 

Other suggestions made in the draft SDMP 

* Parking of vehicles on national highways and State highways should be prohibited strictly. 

* Efforts should be made to provide road-dividers on all national and State highways on priority. 

* Making efforts to light up all national highways carrying excessive vehicle load. 

* All unmanned railway crossings should be manned with signal facilities. 

* All ghat roads should have adequate embankments on the valley side. 

* Standard designs for speed breakers and tipplers. 

* Provision of lay-byes for all bus stops must be made mandatory with authority given to RTO to clear them off all encroachments. 

* As inter-state transport is increasing, there should be uniform national regulation on permissible loads. 

* Every goods vehicle must have plates with stands displaying ‘danger sign’ painted thereon in the front and rear, in case of break-down on highway. 

* Reflectors and tail lamps to be made compulsory for hand-carts, cattle-driven carts, tractors, tractor and jeep trolleys, cycles, cycle-rickshaws and such other non-motorised vehicles not falling under Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. 

Nuclear emergency response centre at Nagpur: SDMP 

The draft State Disaster Management Plan (SDMP) reveals a list of Emergency Response Centres (ERCs) set up at 18 locations across the country for effective response to any major nuclear emergency. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) have set up these ERCs. They are located at Mumbai, Nagpur, Tarapur, Kakrapar, Indore, Kota, Jaipur, Delhi, Narora, Shillong, Kolkata, Jaduguda, Hyderabad, Kaiga, Bangalore, Kalpakkam, Aiwaye, and Kudankulam.

(14-08-15)