TN to get "substantial" assistance to tackle drought: Govt

Government today assured members from Tamil Nadu that the state will soon get "substantial financial assistance" from the Centre for tackling drought.
"I assure you that substantial financial assistance would be given to Tamil Nadu for tackling the drought situation in the state," Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said while replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha.
He said a central team had visited the state to assess the drought situation and has submitted its report, which will be taken up at a meeting of the high-level committee soon.
"The High-level Committee will look into the issue and meet soon. It looks like that within a week, it will take up the report and Tamil Nadu will get good compensation as per norms prescribed under natural calamities," he informed the members.

Singh said the state had made a demand of Rs 19,665 crore earlier and the Centre has provided compensation to the tune of Rs 624 crore to the state in the last seven years.
He said the state government had declared drought in all the 32 districts on January 10.

"Tamil Nadu had an allocation of Rs 713 crore during 2016-17 under SDRF, comprising of Rs 534.75 crore as central share and Rs 178.25 crore as state share. The entire central share of Rs 534.75 crore has been released to the state government," he said in a written reply.
The state government has submitted a memorandum seeking assistance of Rs 39,565 crore from NDRF for drought relief.

The Minister also said that the report submitted by the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) which had assessed the situation in the state is under consideration of the Central government.