Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reviewed the ongoing rescue and relief work of all the flood affected States. Keeping in view the severity of flood situation and the fund positions in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) account of the States of Bihar and Karnataka, the Home Minister has approved advance release of Rs.400 crore to the State of Bihar and Rs.1200 crore to the State of Karnataka from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) ‘on account basis’.
He has further approved the advance release of 2nd instalment of centre’s share of SDRF amounting to Rs.213.75 crore to the State of Bihar for the year 2019-20.
The States of Karnataka and Bihar have apprised of the paucity of funds in the SDRF account, resulting in delay in providing relief assistance to the affected people and requested for release of advance additional financial assistance from NDRF. The State of Bihar has also requested for advance release of the second instalment of centre’s share of SDRF for the year 2019-20.
During the South West Monsoon, 2019, 13 States have been affected from unprecedented floods/landslide. In pursuance of a significant decision taken by the Union Home Minister in the High Level Committee (HLC) meeting held on August 19, even before receipt of Memorandum from the concerned State Government for seeking additional financial assistance from NDRF, Ministry of Home Affairs constituted Inter Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) for 13 States. IMCTs have so far visited 12 States and based on the interim memorandum submitted by States, interim reports have been submitted by IMCTs in respect of Bihar and Karnataka, the release said.
The Central Government has been providing full support to the State Governments by mobilizing/providing timely logistics and financial resources to supplement efforts of the State Governments to deal with the situation effectively in the wake of floods/ landslides. The logistics support provided includes adequate number of teams of National Disaster Response Force, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard helicopters, Army columns, Navy & Coast Guard personnel along with necessary rescue equipment, it said.
Government of India supplements the effort of the State Government by providing assistance for relief of immediate nature through SDRF and per established procedure. A SDRF has been constituted for each State. The Central Government contributes 75% for General Category States and 90% for North-Eastern and Hilly States of the SDRF allocation each year. The first charge of relief expenditure is on SDRF and in the cases of calamities of severe nature, it is supplemented from NDRF as per established procedure, it added.
