Assam yet to receive additional Central fund of Rs 616.63 crore under NDRF

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam government is yet to receive the already approved additional Central grant of Rs 616.63 crore under NDRF (National Disaster Response Fund). The approval was given during a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on January 6, 2020. This amount was to be utilized for various works related to the floods/ landslides/ cloudburst during the southwest monsoon in 2019.

Following the huge damage to infrastructure across the State that year, the Assam government moved the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) for the additional Central assistance. A Central team also assessed the ground situation in Assam that year.

The MHA provides States with two types of funds to deal with various types of natural disasters. One is the SDRF (State Disaster Response Fund) and the other is NDRF. Under the SDRF, while the Centre bears 90 percent of the total approved money, the State government has to provide the remaining 10 percent. However, the NDRF is a 100 percent Central grant and is given in addition to the SDRF.

At the State level, the Revenue & Disaster Management Department deals with both the funds. Sources informed The Sentinel that "though the Centre has not released the NDRF allocation so far, the MHA has released the first installment of Rs 368 crores of the already allocated Rs 858 crore for 2020-21 under SDRF.

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