TURA: A social activist from East Garo Hills has made an appeal to the Commissioner Secretary, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) in Shillong to provide sufficient vehicles as well as the deployment of efficient non-medical staff to different districts of Garo Hills to assist in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
While lauding the efforts of the government and the concerned department to check the spread of the virus, the activist, Nilberth Ch Marak, in his appeal, said that in some districts of Garo Hills, Disaster Management Officers and other staff are facing problems in carrying out their duties due to lack of sufficient vehicles.
Recalling the letter earlier issued by the SDMA in Shillong, in which it informed that 11 vehicles (5 Mahindra Bolero, 4 Tata Xeno Pick-Up and two others) had been procured by the SDMA and allotted to different District Disaster Management Officers (DDMO) of the state to facilitate the movement of ADPOs, Nilberth questioned why these vehicles were not being used for the purpose.
“Due to the lack of sufficient vehicles, management officers are finding it difficult to perform their duties as they have to make village visits to give awareness on disaster management. It has also been learnt that some of the vehicles are still in the custody of ADCs and not with these respective officers,” the social activist claimed.
Nilberth also alleged that while one post of SDMO has been lying vacant for the last ten years, a single DDMO has been doing all the staff work in each of the districts of Garo Hills as there are no other permanent staff like ministerial staff, technicians and others except daily wagers and temporary staffs, who are not efficient enough due to lack of experience.
Taking all this into account, Nilberth urged the department to look into the matter and to fill the vacant posts and regularise temporary staff, who have been working for more than ten years.