Centre should release funds for MP flood relief: Scindia

Congress general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday asked the Centre to release money from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) to Madhya Pradesh for flood relief.

Scindia told reporters here that chief minister Kamal Nath had asked for Rs 500 crore from the Centre for the flood affected, and the latter should release it immediately from the NDRF.

MP is experiencing heavy rainfall since the start of monsoon mid-June and has so far received 33 per cent more than the normal annual average as per data made available by the India Meteorological Department.

"The NDRF should release fund to flood affected areas in MP. No politics should be played on a natural calamity," he said, adding that CM Nath had ordered a survey to assess losses caused by floods.

He said he had put off his visit to Delhi and was touring areas in the state affected by floods.

Queried on former chief minister's Shivraj Singh Chouhan's announcement on Sunday that the BJP would start an agitation if farmers were not compensated for flood losses by September 22, Scindia said more important than such statements was the need to hear people's voices.