The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has yet to appoint a new director for its directorate of emergency and disaster management (E&DM), it has been learnt. Despite the fact that Directorate of E&DM is the sole body of the federal capital, but it is running without its chief for the last five months as the city bosses seem reluctant to appoint the new director for the said directorate.
A CDA official, who wished not to be named, told Pakistan Today that during the month of April 2011 the then director E&DM Ahsan Ali Mangi left the job after getting promotion. “Since then the post has been vacant, creating a number of problems for the employees and the directorate as well,” he added. The official alleged that high-ups of the authority might want to induct one of their favourites against the post because of which they were adopting delaying tactics.
The emergency and disaster management directorate was established in 2008 in the aftermath of 2005 earthquake and the Marriot Hotel bombing, realising the increasing importance of a fully equipped, pro-active and a fast disaster mitigation and response unit of trained and motivated men and women. “The directorate was working efficiently in the presence of its head; the employees of the E&DM also served in the recent disasters in the country and abroad,” the source said, adding the directorate with a strength of 559 persons had a well-equipped fire brigade, a well-trained team of searchers and rescuers, a fire prevention and an audit wing, thus reducing the risk of incidents. But even after the positive output, the directorate had no boss to deal with the affairs smoothly. An official further said that DMA Director Mansoor Ahmad Khan had been currently holding the additional charge of the post vacated by Mangi. But Mansoor did not give time to both the departments and heavy burden of work might be the main reason behind the problem, he noted. “Interestingly, Mansoor has sent the summary to the CDA board to merge the directorate of E&DM into DMA which shows his interest in holding dual offices,” the official went on saying.
Delay in appointment of the new director has created a number of problems for low-ranking employees. “We have a lot of problems but no solution,” said a low-ranking employee of E&DM, adding that Mangi was a technical officer and it was difficult for him to deal with disasters and emergencies for lack of experience in the field. Talking to Pakistan Today, CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajid said the authority would appoint a suitable person as and when he was made available. 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 send a proposal, but it was up to the CDA stakeholders to accept or reject it. “We have established the said directorate with full conviction and it is working efficiently in the federal capital.
