Govt approves Rs 4432.10 crore of additional Central assistance to Odisha, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh

Centre had released Rs 9658 crore to all states in 2018-19 and Rs 6104 crore to 24 States in 2019-20 till date from SDRF

The High Level Committee (HLC), chaired by the Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah, met in New Delhi on 19th August 2019 to consider additional central assistance to three states, which were affected by drought (rabi) of 2018-19, avalanches, hailstorms, landslides and cyclone 'Fani' during 2019. The HLC approved additional central assistance of Rs. 4432.10 crore to three States from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) - Rs. 3338.22 crore to Odisha for Cyclone Fani, Rs 1029.39 crore to Karnataka for drought and Rs 64.49 crore to Himachal Pradesh for avalanches and hailstorm.

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar were present in the meeting, along with senior officers of the Ministries of Home Affairs, Finance, Agriculture and NITI Aayog. This additional assisatance is over and above the funds released by Centre to the States in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) already placed at the disposal of States. During 2018-19, Centre had released Rs 9,658 crore to all states and during 2019-20, till date Centre has released Rs 6,104 crore to 24 States from SDRF.

In the case of Odisha at the onset of Cyclone 'Fani', Rs 340.87 crore was released in advance on 29th April 2019 from SDRF. Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi visited Odisha on 06.05.2019, and as announced by him, immediate assistance of Rs. 1000 crore was released in advance. In addition, an ex-gratia sum of Rs. 2 lakh were provided to next of the kin of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 to seriously injured in the Cyclone from PM's Relief Fund.

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