Parties okay tsunami relief works

Warning system soon

The government will set up a disaster management authority and install early warning systems to tackle natural calamities such as Tsunami that rocked south-east Asia on December 26.

The decision was taken at an all-party meeting called today by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss relief and rehabilitation efforts in the tsunami-hit regions of the country.

Talking after the meeting, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said a Bill would be brought in the Budget session of Parliament, beginning next month, to give effect to the proposed authority.

The three-and-a-half-hour-long meeting was attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee (Congress), Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar (NCP) and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the opposition leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj, the Left parties, Tamil parties and UPA allies such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The Prime Minister appraised all leaders about the latest estimates of death and devastation brought on by the tsunami disaster. He said 10,012 people were killed and 5,624 were missing. The meeting also saw a 30-minute presentation by the home secretary and a detailed briefing by the cabinet Secretary.

Later talking to the press, Mukherjee said of the 5,624 people missing so far, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands accounted for almost all of them as 5,531 people from there were not traceable.

He added that as many as 20,800 personnel of the armed forces and paramilitary forces were involved in the rescue and relief effort, "one of the biggest peacetime operations" undertaken by the Army, Navy and Air Force, according to him.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the leaders felt the setting up of a warning system would be much better than spending thousands of crore in relief and rehabilitation. She also said the Government had delayed the all-party meeting too long and that this had been expressed by the BJP leaders at the meeting.

CPI(M) leaders Nilotpal Basu and Basudev Acharia said all parties agreed that the December 26 tsunami disaster was a national calamity and the rescue, relief and reconstruction operations were well-managed.

Acharia said 90 per cent of those affected were fishermen and all parties demanded loan waivers and special assistance for boats and nets.

TDP leader K Yerrannaidu said he had sought enhancing of ex-gratia amount from the present Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and a comprehensive insurance policy covering all fishermen from the east and west coast should be worked out.

Mukherjee also ruled out scaling down the republic day celebrations in view of the disaster and made it clear that no political party had made any such suggestion.

Others who attended the meeting included BJP leader Jaswant Singh, Shiv Sena's Ananta Geete, RSP leader Abani Roy and Indian Federal Democratic Party leader P C Thomas. Two AIADMK ministers of Tamil Nadu represented the party at the meeting.