The only department in the federal capital dealing with disaster and emergency situations is working without a chief for the last four months as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) bosses seem oblivious to appoint the new director for Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Sources in the civic body, seeking anonymity, said around four months ago in April the then Director E&M Ahsan Ali Mangi left the job after getting promotion. “Since then the post of director E&M is vacant but no one has been appointed to fill the slot, creating a number of problems for the employees and directorate as well”, sources added.
A CDA official said some high-ups might desire to induct their blue-eyed boys on the post because of which they were adopting the delaying tactics on the issue. The Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate was established in 2008 in the aftermath of 2005 earthquake and Marriot Hotel bombing, realising the increasing importance of a fully equipped, pro-active and fast disaster mitigation and response unit of trained and motivated men and women. “The directorate was working efficiently during the presence of its head even the employees of the E&M also served in recent disasters in and out of the country” the source said, adding that directorate with a strength of 559 persons comprised a well-equipped fire brigade, well-trained team of “searchers and rescuers”, a fire prevention and audit wing doing safety audits of the public use buildings, thus reducing the risk of incidents.
But even after the positive output, the directorate had no boss to deal the affairs smoothly, he said.
However, the official source added that Director DMA Mansoor Ahmad Khan had been currently holding the additional charge of the post vacated by Mangi. But Mansoor did not give time to the both departments and heavy burden of work might be the main reason behind the problem, he noted.
He went on to say that Mansoor was also interested in holding the offices of both the directorates and had also sent summary to the CDA board to merge the Directorate of E&DM into that of DMA. “We have lot of problems but have no solution,” said the low-ranked employee of E&DM, adding that Mangi was the technical officer and it was difficult for the incumbent chief to deal with the disasters and emergencies due to his lack of experience in the field. When contacted, CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajid said whenever a better choice would be available, the authority would appoint the director of E&DM. Regarding the proposal sent by Mansoor to merge the directorate of E&DM into DMA, he said the CDA was a vibrant body and every head could sent proposals but it was up to the CDA stakeholders whether they accepted it or reject. “We establish the said directorate with full conviction and it is working efficiently in the federal capital and also served in severe disasters, including the last year’s floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Therefore, the authority will appoint its head after a thorough consideration,” the spokesman added.
He further said that the directorate required technical staff because of the nature of its work.
