Assam Revenue & Disaster Management Dept. releases Rs 70 cr in the fight against COVID-19

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Revenue & Disaster Management Department has released Rs 70 crore to all the 33 districts and their subdivisions of the State for the battle against coronavirus. This fund is being used for extending various kinds of relief materials to the needy people, sanitization of areas, and meeting the costs for quarantining of people. With respect to the districts covering large areas, funding up to Rs 1.50 crore has been extended. The district and sub-division administrations have been also asked to communicate with the Department if any additional funds are required.

The entire funding is being done under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) as the nationwide lockdown is being implemented under the ‘Disaster Management Act-2005’. While 90 per cent share of the fund is borne by the Central government, the remaining share is that of the State government. The money allocated by the Centre under SDRF is non-lapsable.

Under SDRF, there is sufficient allocation of funds for the fiscal 2020-2021, said an official of the Department. An amount of Rs 859 crore was allocated under SDRF in the State’s Budget this fiscal (2020-2021). On the other hand, the Budget allocation for SDRF was Rs 559 crore in the last fiscal (2019-2020). Hence compared to last year, there has been a hike of Rs 300 crore this financial year.

Besides, the opening balance of the State government as on April 1, 2020 was Rs 356 crore which constituted the unspent amount under SDRF of the previous fiscal. Taking the new allocation and the opening balance, the total fund now available with Assam government this fiscal is Rs 1,215 crore.

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