Tamil Nadu government forms city-level authority for urban disaster management

The State government has constituted a seven-member Chennai City Urban Disaster Management Authority (CCUDMA) under Section 41A of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) would be the ex-officio Chairperson, and the Chennai Collector, the ex-officio Vice-Chairperson of the CCUDMA.

Greater Chennai Police Commissioner, GCC Deputy Commissioner (Works), GCC City Health Officer, Chief Executive Officer of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), and Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Chennai Region, will be the ex-officio members of the panel.

The Revenue and Disaster Management Department issued a Government Order (G.O.) in this regard last week. Though a State-level disaster management authority, with the Chief Minister as its Chairperson, as well as district-level disaster management authorities, with the respective Collectors as chairpersons, are in place, this is the first time a city-level panel has been constituted specifically for “urban disasters” for the State capital.

The constitution of the committee for Chennai followed the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which was adopted by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. It was this Bill that envisaged the creation of a “separate urban disaster management authority” for State capitals and all cities having a municipal corporation (except Delhi and the Union Territory of Chandigarh).

According to the legislation, the urban authority would be responsible for the preparation and implementation of the disaster management plan that was to be approved by the State authority.

The topography of Chennai and the erratic climate conditions have made the city prone to disasters such as cyclones, floods due to heavy downpour, cloud burst, earthquakes, and tsunami, according to the City Disaster Management Perspective Plan 2024 drafted by the GCC.

The plan also underlined that some of the areas in Chennai were below mean sea level, which posed challenges to effective management of inundation during heavy rainfall.