Karnataka has an efficient mechanism to tackle disasters
This year, Karnataka witnessed massive devastation owing to floods. The state government pleaded with the Centre for assistance for relief and rehabilitation, and finally the latter released an interim aid of Rs 1,200 crore under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). The state government will now have to pool in funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) in order to effectively ameliorate the sufferings
of the victims.
Karnataka has a history of confronting various kinds of disasters and therefore the state’s preparedness is also far advanced when compared to many other states. The state’s Karnataka Disaster Management Plan-2016-17 has a blueprint of the drill to be followed in case of disasters. This is done under the Disaster Management Act (2005), and under Sections 46 and 48 of this Act, the Centre has to provide disaster relief to states.
The Standing Committee on Finance, led by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, submitted a report in February 2019 recommending setting aside Rs 9,103 crore under NDRF and Rs 6,147 under SDRF for 29 states. Accordingly, on August 30, 2019, the Centre released Rs 204 crore under SDRF and Rs 1,544 crore under NDRF to the state. This is, however, minuscule compared to the total of Rs 9,103 crore sanctioned under NDRF.
Presently, the financial condition of Karnataka is not very comfortable with the latest estimates putting the deficit at Rs 6,000 crore. However, on the revenue side, it has achieved an increment of about 15% over the previous year. But it is currently shaken due to floods and strong political unrest in north Karnataka. The state government has taken all steps possible over the years to prepare for natural disasters and therefore, has set up a special cell under the Revenue Department to manage disasters. This is headed by Principal Secretary (Disaster Management) and the Karnataka State Disaster Management Plan clearly indicates the institutional set-up to deal with this. The department has estimated the loss due to floods, houses damaged, crops destroyed and has also assessed the roads and bridges that need immediate repair in order to bring back the flood-hit areas to normalcy.
Of the interim aid released by the Centre, NDRF has released Rs 897 crore and Rs 303 crore from SDRF.
Also, the state government has already released Rs 2,578 crore to rebuild infrastructure. Rebuilding of houses, rehabilitating the flood-hit population and restoring the confidence of farmers by providing vital inputs for them to undertake immediate farming are the priorities of the state government.
Karnataka has a very efficient mechanism to estimate drought or flood loss - thanks to the establishment of a proper institutional framework. None of the states in the country can boast of having such an institutional backup. Therefore, possibly, the state has to begin with the one-third of the funds available to meet the Herculean task of rehabilitation. Alternatively, it may have to bring in its own resources by cutting down expenditure on some of the non-priority schemes. Therefore, even though a picture of copious fund release from the Union government is made, it will be quite insufficient to patch up the losses to a satisfactory level.