According to the ministry, the council as proposed in the revised bill would be an umbrella authority for coordinating all disaster risk management activities, response, rescue operations as well as relief and rehabilitation related tasks.
“The revised bill has proposed setting up a permanent umbrella body to oversee the disaster related tasks. It shall have the authority to mobilize rescue operation, relief distribution, reconstruction tasks, among other, related activities,” said Yadav Koirala, spokesperson at the ministry.
Earlier, the ministry had to withdraw the bill immediately after registering it at the parliament secretariat following the April 25 earthquake in the country.
The bill was withdrawn after it faced criticisms for lacking adequate provisions for addressing the post-earthquake disaster management.
“The bill has also been revised in line with the new constitution. And it has proposed provincial disaster management committees,” said Rameshwar Dangal, the chief of disaster risk reduction section at the Home Ministry.
In the absence of a disaster management Act, the government is operating rescue, relief and other disaster-related activities as per the three decades old Disaster Rescue Act introduced in 1982.
The government had prepared the bill last year after pressure from various government bodies and other aid agencies.
“We have readied the revised bill and it will be tabled in parliament immediately after the House session begins,” Home Minister Shakti Basnet informed lawmakers at a meeting of parliament's state affairs committee last week.
The revised bill, too, has given continuity to a provision of setting up national disaster management center at the Home Ministry. Similarly the draft has proposed setting up a disaster management fund, fixing criteria for distribution of relief and conditions for seeking international aid.
Likewise, the revised bill proposes an executive committee, disaster risk reduction committee, including other committees at the national level.
The revised bill has also proposed making arrangements for livelihoods for those who suffer disability due to disaster. Home Ministry spokesman Koirala said the revised bill has also entrusted the council the authority of resource mobilization.
At present, the Ministry of Law and Justice is giving final touches to the bill. Spokesman at the Ministry of Law, Dilliraj Ghimire said the bill has been accorded high priority, even though the ministry is busy finalizing new laws formulated for the implementation of the new constitution.
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Disaster Management Bill getting final touches
