Relief committee in place, but confusion over chairman

A day after The Indian Express reported that four members of the 15-member high-power Crisis Management Committee did not even know they wer...

A day after The Indian Express reported that four members of the 15-member high-power Crisis Management Committee did not even know they were on it, confusion prevails over who actually heads the panel.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) A P Sinha–it was announced that he would head the committee and coordinate all post-rain-and-flood relief work in the state–and other members on the panel have contradictory views.

Deshmukh today told The Indian Express that Chief Secretary Prem Kumar heads the committee and would co-ordinate relief operations. A release issued at a press conference held by Deshmukh on Sunday had stated that Sinha would coordinate the relief work along with Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister U C Sarangi.

Asked about this, Deshmukh said. ‘‘I have no idea about the committee you are talking about or the press release. There is only one committee headed by the Chief Secretary. It will co-ordinate all relief work.’’

Sinha, who’s holidaying in Spain, had said on Sunday that he knew nothing about the committee that he was supposed to head. On Monday, he told this paper, ‘‘Since I am on leave, I am now not part of the government and hence would not be intimated.’’

Meanwhile, Sarangi confirmed that he would coordinate relief in Sinha’s absence. ‘‘The Chief Secretary has asked me to do the job.’’

Other members of the committee are just as confused. Principal Secretary (Rural Development) Jayraj Phatak, who is away in Vidarbha to assess the damage caused by rains, said, ‘‘The Chief Secretary must be heading the committee. I still have no idea.’’

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The committee, however, did get down to the brasstacks on Monday as some of them met to discuss the job ahead. Principal Secretary (Agriculture) J S Saharia, who on Sunday expressed ignorance about the committee, held a meeting with various insurance companies to apprise them of the insurance needs of flood-affected people.

Principal Secretary (Transport) R R Sinha said the committee had already disbursed over Rs 8 lakh as compensation to the affected people. ‘‘In Mumbai alone, we have removed 11,000 metric tonne of garbage. A hundred teams of doctors and paramedics have been deployed,’’ he said.

Principal Secretary (General Administration) Ajay Pandey said he, with Phatak, had been given asked to assess the damage, and drawing up a report. ‘‘The report, which will take around a month to complete, will be submitted to the Centre for additional assistance,’’ Pandey said.

The assistance would be in addition to the Rs 500-crore package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he added.