Govt downgrades posts of NDMA Vice-Chairman, members

New Delhi: The government has downgraded the posts of the Vice-Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) from the rank of Union Cabinet Minister to the Cabinet Secretary.

The status of the members of the NDMA has also been reduced from the rank of the Union Minister of State to the Secretary of the Union government.

The decision to downgrade the posts of the NDMA office- bearers was taken today by the Home Ministry in consultation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Ministry sources said.

The Prime Minister is the Chairman of the NDMA.

The government is expected to reconstitute the NDMA soon and as per plans the Authority would have just four or five members with the Prime Minister as the Chairman.

None of these members would be politician but persons with technical knowledge who can help the government in disaster mitigation and rescue efforts, sources said.

The Vice-Chairman will enjoy the rank of the Cabinet Secretary. He will draw a salary of Rs 90,000 per month besides other perks and benefits equivalent to the post.

Similarly, the members will enjoy the rank of Secretary of the Union government. They will draw the salary of Rs 80,000 besides other perks and benefits.

The last NDMA had eight members besides the Vice-Chairman. Congress leader from Telangana M Shashidhar Reddy was Vice-Chairman. The members include former Director General of CRPF JK Sinha, CISF Director General KM Singh, former Civil Aviation Secretary KN Shrivastava, Maj Gen (Retd) JK Bansal, former director of Bhabha Automic Research Centre B Bhattacharjee and former CBI Special Director K Salim Ali.