CAG report exposes Mizoram’s disaster management failures amid frequent calamities
The State faced the fury of Cyclone Remal and other calamities between March and May last year, which claimed 42 lives and destroyed 5,938 houses.
Aizawl, Sept 1: Mizoram’s vulnerability to natural calamities has been repeatedly exposed, yet the State’s disaster management system remains grossly underprepared, according to the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) tabled in the Assembly.
The State faced the fury of Cyclone Remal and other calamities between March and May last year, which claimed 42 lives and destroyed 5,938 houses. Again this May, torrential monsoon rains triggered landslides and mudslides at 940 locations, killing six people and leaving hundreds of buildings in ruins. Despite such frequent disasters, the CAG observed that Mizoram’s disaster management agencies remain ill-equipped to prevent or mitigate risks.
The audit pointed to glaring lapses in the functioning of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), the State Advisory Committee (SAC), and the State Executive Committee (SEC), all mandated under the Disaster Management Act.
The SDMA failed to integrate prevention and mitigation into development plans, while departmental guidelines for disaster planning were issued only in March 2015 - over eight years after the SEC was constituted. The SAC, meanwhile, did not meet even once between 2017-18 and 2021-22, effectively paralysing its advisory role.
The CAG further noted that the SEC had not vetted construction projects for compliance with the National Building Code 2005 and relevant BIS codes. Regular inspections of landslide-prone zones were not carried out, nor were comprehensive research studies undertaken. Soil testing was conducted only once, at Aizawl’s Hunthar Veng sinking area, and no material testing in hazardous regions was done during the audit period.
Preparedness measures were also lacking. The State government failed to draft separate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for specific hazards such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, cyclones, or cloudbursts. An automated landslide monitoring system, proposed in 2015, has yet to be implemented. Departments also did not prepare basic checklists for managing recurring hazards.
Training and capacity building were neglected as well. No medical or police personnel received disaster-related training, and not a single mock drill was conducted in 2020-21 or 2021-22.
A dedicated State Disaster Response Force battalion has not been raised; instead, limited training was provided to a few State armed personnel for rescue duties – female personnel are yet to be included, the Home Department admitted.
The audit also flagged irregularities in disaster fund utilisation, including spending on inadmissible components and lapses in handling the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
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