Centre allocates Rs 577.84 crore central assistance to Karnataka for monsoon damages

The Narendra Modi government on Friday approved the release of Rs 4,381.88 crore to six states, including Rs 577.84 crore for Karnataka, as central assistance for dealing with the aftermath of natural calamities like cyclone, flood and landslides during the year.

The decision was taken by the High Level Committee headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. Besides Karnataka, the other states that have been provided central assistance are West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Sikkim.

Karnataka has been allocated Rs 577.84 crore for dealing with the damages due to floods and landslides during the South-West Monsoon while Rs 611.61 crore has been allocated for Madhya Pradesh and Rs 87.84 crore for Sikkim.

West Bengal has got the highest allocation of Rs 2,707.77 crore for Cyclone Amphan. Odisha was also allocated Rs 128.23 crore for Odisha for handling Cyclone Amphan.

Modi had visited Bengal and Odisha on May 22 this year and had announced a financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to the former and Rs 500 crore to the latter and were released, in advance, the next day. In addition, he had also announced Rs two lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured, which was over and above the ex-gratia provided through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the NDRF.

In all the six States, an official statement said, the Central Government had deputed Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) immediately after the calamities, without waiting for the receipt of Memorandum from the affected State Governments.

In addition, during the financial year 2020-21, the Central Government has released Rs 15,524.43 crore to 28 States from the SDRF till date.