West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Sikkim to get funds for cyclones “Amphan’, and ‘Nisarga’, floods and landslides that occurred during 2020
New Delhi: The High Level Committee (HLC) under the chairmanship of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, today approved additional central assistance of Rs. 4,381.88 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to six States, which were affected by cyclone, floods, and landslides during the year.
The breakup of the additional central assistance is as follows:
- For cyclone ‘Amphan’, Rs 2,707.77 crore has been approved for West Bengal and Rs.128.23 crore for Odisha.
- For cyclone ‘Nisarga’ Rs 268.59 crore has been approved for Maharashtra.
- For floods and landslides during the South-West monsoon, Rs.577.84 crore has been approved for Karnataka, Rs 611.61 crore for Madhya Pradesh, and Rs 87.84 crore for Sikkim.
It may be mentioned that in the aftermath of cyclone ‘Amphan’, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the affected States of West Bengal and Odisha on May 22, 2020, he had announced financial assistance of Rs. 1,000 crore to West Bengal and Rs 500 crore to Odisha which were released, in advance, the very next day on May 23 for immediate relief activities in these States. In addition, the Prime Minister had also announced Rs. 2 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 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.
It may further be noted that 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.
