New Delhi, October 08: Even as floods play havoc in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, several states have failed to enact a 34-year-old Model Flood Bill aimed at minimising losses to life and property.
The bill, prepared by the Central Water Commission in 1975, will empower authorities to remove dwellings from flood-prone areas.
The bill, if implemented, will seek to replace dwellings in low-lying areas by parks and playgrounds as absence of human settlement in those areas would cut down loss of lives and property.
The CWC had circulated the model bill to all the states to help the state governments enact the legislation.
Except for Manipur and Rajasthan, no state legislature has enacted the ‘Model Bill on Flood Plain Zoning’, sources in the Central Water Commission told PTI.
Though Manipur enacted the legislation in 1978, the demarcation of flood zones is yet to be carried out.
–PTI