Five states hit by natural disasters given additional assistance by Centre

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The Centre has approved over Rs 1,682 crore as additional assistance to five states and a union territory which were hit by floods and landslides last year.

The approval of the additional central assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has been given by a High Level Committee (HLC) headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The HLC approved the additional central assistance of Rs 1,664.25 crore to five states from the NDRF and Rs 17.86 crore to Puducherry, an official statement said on Thursday.

While Rs 351.43 crore has been approved for Andhra Pradesh, Rs 112.19 crore has been given to Himachal Pradesh, Rs 492.39 crore to Karnataka, Rs 355.39 crore to Maharashtra, Rs 352.85 crore to Tamil Nadu and Rs 17.86 crore to Puducherry.

This additional assistance is over and above the funds released by the Centre to the states in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), already placed at the disposal of the states.

During the financial year 2021-22, the Centre has released Rs 17,747.20 crore to 28 states in their SDRF and Rs 4,645.92 crore to eight states from the NDRF.

The central government had deputed Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) to these states and UTs immediately after the calamities, without waiting for the receipt of memorandum from them, the statement noted.