The Delhi government has approved a remuneration hike of up to 100% for personnel working under the Delhi State Disaster Management Authority (DSDMA), the first pay revision this cadre has seen in 16 years. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced the decision on Sunday, calling it a long-overdue correction for staff who coordinate the Capital’s emergency response.
The revision covers project officers, district project officers and project coordinators. Their monthly remuneration had stayed frozen since 2009, when project officers and district project officers were fixed at ₹25,000 a month and project coordinators at ₹20,000. The new structure roughly doubles those figures.
“We have delivered justice to disaster management personnel by revising remuneration that had remained unchanged for 16 years,” said Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in a statement.
These roles were created in 2009 with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Because the posts were never linked to any regular government pay structure or an equivalent pay category, the staff missed out on periodic revisions and never drew Dearness Allowance. Gupta noted that responsibilities kept expanding and disaster-management challenges grew more complex over the same period, while the pay stood still.
The affected personnel discharge statutory duties under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Their work spans district-level disaster planning, scientific risk assessments, vulnerability mapping across Delhi’s sensitive zones, coordination between departments, and running Emergency Operation Centres during a crisis. They also conduct mock drills and training programmes to build stakeholder capacity.
