A supreme level committee headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday 13th February consented to give approximately Rs 3,113 crore to five states that were victims of natural disasters and pest attacks in 2020. The states and union territory that will get the additional central backing from the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh, according to a home ministry statement.
The committee with the home minister as chair has agreed to provide additional central assistance to the five states and Union Territories, which were hit by floods, cyclones (Nivar and Burevi) and pest attacks during 2020.
Andhra Pradesh will receive Rs 280.78 crore and Bihar Rs 1,255.27 crore for flooding during the South-West monsoon. Tamil Nadu will get Rs 63.14 crore for cyclone ‘Nivar’ and Rs 223.77 crore for cyclone ‘Burevi’ — a total of Rs 286.91 crore. The Union Territory of Puducherry will get Rs 9.91 crore for cyclone ‘Nivar’. Madhya Pradesh will get Rs 1,280.18 crore for the pest attack during the Kharif season, the statement said.
The central government had designated Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) following directly after calamities without waiting for the receipts of a memorandum from the affected state governments.
While accepting the additional central assistance, the home minister said the union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is determined to help the people of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh who endured these natural disasters.
In addition to this, the statement said that during the financial year 2020-21, to date the central government has released Rs 19,036.43 crore to 28 states from the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) and Rs 4,409.71 crore to 11 states from NDRMF.
