Rs 6,000 crore approved for disaster-hit states

A high level committee on Monday approved a central assistance of around Rs 6,000 crore for nine states which suffered from natural calamities last year, an official said.

In a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the committee approved assistance of Rs 1,711.66 crore for Bihar, which was affected by floods during 2017-18, an official statement said.

The committee also approved assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) amounting to Rs 1,055.05 crore for Gujarat, Rs 420.57 crore for Rajasthan, Rs 420.69 crore for Uttar Pradesh and Rs 838.85 crore for West Bengal, all of which were affected by floods.

It also approved central assistance of Rs 169.63 crore for Kerala (affected by cyclone Ockhi), Rs 133.05 crore for Tamil Nadu (affected by cyclone Ockhi and North East Monsoon), Rs 395.91 crore for Chhattisgarh (affected by kharif drought) and Rs 836.09 crore for the state of Madhya Pradesh (affected by kharif drought).

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba also attended the meeting.

--IANS

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