Dimapur, Aug. 13 (EMN): The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority has announced a dedicated village disaster management authority (VDMA) for villages which shall be constituted by the village council. The village unit shall be led by the chairman, and secretary of the village development board (VDB) as member-secretary.
The government publicity agency, the department of Information and Public Relations (IPR), issued updates on Tuesday informing about the notification.
The IPR listed the terms of reference for the VDMA.
1. The VDMA shall function under the village council. The VDMA shall consist of at least of five members and not more than 10 members.
2. Two members of the VDMA can be selected from the same household.
3. The members of the VDMA should be permanent residents of the village.
4. The VDMA shall comprise at least one female or more, depending on the composition of the village council.
5. The VDMA may, as and when it considers necessary, constitute a sub-committee from the existing key line committees in the village, such as health, power, water and sanitation and education committees etc or any other sub¬committee as necessary.
6. The VDMA shall coordinate and devise a working response mechanism with neighboring villages.
7. The VDMA shall also coordinate with the sub¬division authority and district authority on disaster management issues.
8. The term of the VDMA shall be co-terminus with the term of the village council. In case of defunct village councils, the VDB secretary shall be the officiating chairman of the VDMA.
9. No remuneration shall be paid for membership to the VDMA by the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority/District Disaster Management Authority.
10. The powers of the chairman of the VDMA and the powers and functions of the VDMA shall remain the same as per section 32 and 34 of the Nagaland State Disaster Management Rules of 2012.
11. All the VDMA units shall prepare their own village disaster management plans, which is to be updated whenever necessary.
12. Any village failing to constitute a VDMA shall not be eligible for any scheme/relief under Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority.
The IPR added that State Disaster Response Fund forms that are ‘received’ without the signature of the VDMA chairman or VDB secretary shall be considered incomplete and ‘devoid’ of receiving benefits.
