Punjab Newsline, Shimla, April 29-
The Himachal Pradesh Disaster Management Authority (HPSDMA) with support from the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) conducted a workshop on the “assessment of fiscal risks due to disasters in critical infrastructure” with key Departments and other stakeholders in developing the fiscal risk assessment framework capturing direct, indirect and network effects of disasters on critical infrastructures such as transport (road and bridges) and energy (power) sectors.
Speaking at the inaugural session D.C. Rana (IAS) Special Secretary (Revenue) highlighted the need for a comprehensive assessment of each sector and departments preparedness for future disasters. He highlighted the 2023 flood post disaster assessment and the need for resilient recovery.
Mr. Basu Sood, Advisor Planning in the Himachal Government highlighted the funding gap in disaster damages and the recovery and reconstruction.
Mr. Aslam Perwaiz, Deputy Executive Director of ADPC who is leading the study stressed the need for the deeper engagement with the key officials in the Departments such finance, planning, energy, transport and others on the analytical framework, data sources, and statistical analysis methods for a better estimation of financial need for future.
Ms. Ranjini Mukherjee of CDRI spoke of the various programs that would be helpful to the state government including capacity building for resilient critical infrastructure.
More than 80 participants from different government department, research and technical institutes, academia and non-government agencies participated in the workshop and discussed on how to strengthen state and national level collaboration for climate and disaster-resilient infrastructure.