Govt forms teams to assess flood damage in HP, J&K, Punjab and Uttarakhand

The government has constituted Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) for Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir to assess the damage caused by heavy rainfall, floods, flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides, officials said.

The IMCTs would make on-the-spot assessment of the situation and relief works being carried out by the state governments.

The Ministry of Home Affairs constituted the IMCTs on the direction of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, an official statement said.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central government stands shoulder to shoulder with the states affected by natural calamities in mitigating the hardships faced by the people, it said.

Early next week, the Central teams will visit the flood/landslide-affected districts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, which have been severely affected by heavy to extremely heavy rainfall and incidents of flash flood, cloudburst and landslide during the current monsoon season.

An IMCT and a multi-sectoral team have already visited Himachal Pradesh, the statement said.

The Central teams led by a joint secretary-level officer in the home ministry/National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) comprise senior officials from the ministries/departments of expenditure, agriculture and farmers' welfare, Jal Shakti, power, road transport and highways, and rural development, the statement said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is in touch with senior officials from the affected states/UT, and has extended all necessary logistical assistance through the deployment of requisite number of teams from the NDRF, Army and Air Force, which are helping them in the relief and rescue operations, it said.

According to a decision taken by the Union home minister in August 2019, the MHA constitutes IMCTs immediately in the aftermath of a severe disaster for on-spot assessment of damage, without waiting for any memorandum.

After the assessment is done, the Centre provides additional financial assistance to the affected states from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) following the established procedures, the statement said.

During the 2025-26 financial year, the Centre has released Rs 10,498.80 crore to 24 states in State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), so as to enable them to provide relief assistance to the affected people, it added.

The Central government also released Rs 1,988.91crore from the NDRF to 12 states, Rs 3,274.90 crore from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to 20 states, and Rs 372.09 crore from the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to nine states, the statement said.