New Delhi: The Centre Tuesday approved additional assistance of Rs 3,338.22 crore to Odisha for the extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani. A decision was taken at a high level committee meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and attended by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. The Centre also approved Rs 1029.39 crore to Karnataka for drought and `64.49 crore to Himachal Pradesh for avalanches and hailstorm.
According to home ministry, Rs 340.87 crore was released to Odisha in advance April 29 from the State Disaster Response Fund. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Odisha in June and as announced by him, immediate assistance of Rs 1000 crore was released in advance. In addition, an ex-gratia sum of Rs 2 lakh was provided to next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to seriously injured in the cyclone from the PM’s Relief Fund.
The ministry further stated that during cyclone ‘Fani’, the Centre had deployed 71 teams of NDRF, 19 columns of Army, 9 Engineering Task Force (ETF), 27 aircraft/helicopters and 16 ships of armed forces for relief and rescue operations. During this massive evacuation drive, more than 15.5 lakhs people were evacuated.
It is to be mentioned here that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had sought assistance of Rs 5,228 crore from the Centre to carry out post-Fani restoration work.
The Chief Minister in June had apprised the Prime Minister that the loss to public properties and funds required for prompt relief measures has been assessed at about Rs 9,336 crore. However, keeping in view the present State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)/National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms, Odisha is seeking an assistance of about Rs 5,228 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund immediately in order to meet the expenditure on the ongoing relief and restoration works in the aftermath of Fani.
As other states were also likely to be affected, an amount of Rs 688 crore was released in advance from SDRF to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The high-level panel also reviewed the existing practice of deputing an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) after the receipt of memorandum from the state in the wake of any severe calamity.
In a significant decision taken by Shah, the IMCT will henceforth be constituted immediately in the aftermath of any natural calamity of severe nature, which will visit the affected areas in the state so as to have first hand assessment of damages caused and relief work carried out by the state administration.