Centre approves assistance to drought-hit states

The central government on Wednesday approved financial assistance for drought affected states from the National Disaster Relief Fund, officials said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level committee meeting here to discuss the situation in drought-affected states like Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana.

The committee granted monetary assistance to all states except Telangana as it deferred its decision about the state till next week.

Andhra Pradesh was allocated Rs.433.77 crore, Odisha got Rs.815 crore while Uttar Pradesh got Rs.1,304.52 crore to deal with the situation.

The committee examined proposals based on reports of the central team which visited the affected states.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya, union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and other senior government officials attended the meeting.