Centre approves Rs 4,432 crore additional assistance to Odisha and HP

Amit Shah. Pic/Twitter Amit Shah

On Tuesday, the Central government passed about Rs 4,432.10 crore to Karnataka, Odisha, and Himachal Pradesh, the states which have been hit by natural disasters. A high-level committee (HLC) chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah approved the additional central assistance of Rs 4,432.10 to the three states from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for natural calamities faced by them.

According to the official release, the meeting was held in order to consider additional central assistance to the three states which are affected by drought (rabi) of 2018-19, avalanches, hailstorms, landslides and cyclone 'Fani' during the year 2019. The meeting was held at New Delhi on Monday.

Also Read: Karnataka floods: Four more bodies recovered, death toll at 58

The press release said that the high-level committee meeting approved additional central assistance of Rs 4,432.10 crore to three states from the NDRF fund. From the total amount, about Rs 3,338.22 crore will be given to Odisha for Cyclone Fani, Rs 1,029.39 crore to Karnataka for drought and Rs 64.49 crore to Himachal Pradesh for avalanches and hailstorm.

The high-level-committee meeting was also graced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and other senior officials of the Narendra Modi cabinet. The additional assistance is an extra package besides the funds released by the Centre to the states under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

Also Read: First dengue death reported this year in Odisha

Earlier, the Centre had released Rs 9,658 crore to all states in 2018-19 and it has released Rs 6,104 crore to 24 states from the SDRF fund so far in this fiscal year.

With inputs from ANI

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