Centre-state tug of war over flood aid
The welling anger over missing Central aid to help Telangana fight the recent Godavari floods has only partly abated, not entirely fallen below the danger mark. The BJP and TRS leaders had flexed their muscles, challenging each other to prove their claims. Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao had alleged that the State had received no funds from the NDRF since 2018. He referred to the list that Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai had released in the Lok Sabha on July 19—it mentioned the states that had secured funds to deal with natural calamities.
Telangana found no mention in the list. But Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, who represents Telangana in the Union government, countered, saying that the Centre had granted `2,970 crore to the State over the last eight years and Rs 1,500 crore since 2018. Taking matters to a head, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan advised the State government against politicising the issue. There is a grain of truth in both Kishan Reddy’s and KTR’s arguments.
KTR, while attacking the Centre, did not speak of the funds credited to the SDRF account by the NDRF. He only talked of additional funds not granted by the Centre. On his part, Kishan Reddy side-stepped the Centre’s silence on additional funds for calamities but waxed eloquent on the funds credited to the SDRF by the NDRF, which is a statutory requirement. Every year, the NDRF releases 75% of the amount indicated in the SDRF by the State. He did not refer to the Hyderabad floods in 2020 when the Centre did not throw even a red cent though a Central team had visited the city.
It is high time the State and Centre eschewed confrontation in times of natural calamities and worked in an atmosphere of mutual trust. The State could always seek help when a calamity such as the massive Godavari floods strikes, but it should not sound peremptory. The Centre, too, should set aside political differences and consider the State’s predicament. There is a time and place for politics. This is undoubtedly neither the time nor the place for it.