M A I N   N E W S

National calamity or not?
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 29 — The earthquake in Gujarat, in which more than 20,000 persons have been reported killed, is a calamity of rare severity and has no official nomenclature, official sources said.

It may be recalled that the Central Government received flak from the Opposition when it failed to declare the Orissa supercyclone as a “national calamity”. The Congress had then claimed that the BJP-led coalition government was discriminating against the then Congress state government.

The controversy has arisen again now with a section of the Opposition waiting to see if the government declares the Gujarat quake as a national calamity, especially since a BJP government is in power in the state.

Sources in the Agricultural Ministry said the nomenclature has no added significance as far as the release of funds and relief work from the Centre and international agencies are concerned.

Official descriptions of calamities had a bearing when the National Fund for Calamity Relief was under operation. It was instituted to deal with serious calamities.

The scheme, administered by a committee set up by the National Development Council, has come to an end on March 31, 2000. The Eleventh Finance Commission had recommended that the scheme should be discontinued and the recommendation was accepted by the Centre.

The commission had recommended that a National Centre for Calamity Management be established under the Ministry of Agriculture to monitor all types of natural calamities and the Centre be empowered to make recommendation whether a calamity would call for financial assistance from the Central Government to the affected states over and above what was available in the calamity relief fund or other plan and non-plan sources.

Any financial assistance provided by the Central Government would be recouped by levy of special surcharge on Central taxes, the commission said.