BHUBANESWAR: Centre has released `552 crore to Odisha as Central share of State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) for cyclone Bulbul which brushed past Odisha coast on November 9 affecting several districts.Informing this in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said in a written reply to a question that in 2019-20, Central share of `414.90 crore to West Bengal and `552 crore to Odisha has been released under SDRF by the Centre.”
The Minister said additional financial assistance had been extended from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). After the cyclone, Centre had constituted inter-ministerial Central teams for both the States, who visited the cyclone-affected areas. He said Odisha and West Bengal Governments are yet to submit memorandum seeking additional assistance from NDRF. Reddy said though Odisha Government had not reported any loss of life due to the cyclone, 38.08 lakh people were affected.
Damages to public infrastructure have also been reported, he said.On April 1, an amount of `447.52 crore was available for Odisha under SDRF. Stating that primary responsibility for disaster management rests with the State Government, Reddy, however, said the Centre extends all possible logistics and financial support to the States to supplement their efforts to meet the situation effectively.
In a written reply to a separate question, Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that the Centre has provided `4679.89 crore financial assistance to Odisha for repair and reconstruction of infrastructure damaged in Cyclone Fani in May.
Rai said to a question from Jual Oram (BJP) that out of the sanctioned amount, the Centre had provided `340.87 crore from SDRF and `3338.22 crore from NDRF. Apart from this, the Centre had also provided additional assistance of `1,000 crore after aerial tour of affected districts in the State by the Prime Minister.