Centre approves Rs 4,381 cr to 6 states as disaster relief

New Delhi: A high level committee chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah has approved additional Central assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to six States, which were affected by cyclone, floods and landslides during the year.

The Committee has approved an additional Central assistance of Rs 4,381.88 crore to six states — Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Sikkim.

For the cyclone “Amphan”, Rs 2,707.77 crore has been approved for West Bengal and Rs 128.23 crore for Odisha.

Maharashtra gets Rs 268.69 crore for the cyclone ‘Nisarga’.

For floods and landslides during the southwest monsoon, Rs 577.84 crore has been approved for Karnataka, Rs 611.61 crore for Madhya Pradesh, and Rs 87.84 crore for Sikkim.

In the aftermath of the cyclone Amphan, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the affected States of West Bengal and Odisha on May 22, 2020. As announced by the Prime Minister, financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to West Bengal and Rs 500 crore to Odisha was released in advance on May 23 for immediate relief activities in these states.

The Prime Minister had also announced Rs two lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured, which was over and above the ex-gratia provided through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the NDRF.

In all, the six States, the Central government had deputed Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) immediately after the calamities, without waiting for the receipt of Memorandum from the affected state governments.

In addition, during the financial year 2020-21, till date, the Central government has released Rs 15,524.43 crore to 28 States from the SDRF.