BHUBANESWAR: Centre on Saturday decided to treat COVID-19 as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance to people affected by coronavirus, including those involved in relief operations or associated in response activities, under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).In a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states, the Ministry of Home Affairs said “Keeping in view the spread of COVID-19 in India and the declaration of it as pandemic by World Health Organisation (WHO), the Central government has decided to treat it as a notified disaster and announced to provide assistance under SDRF.”
The letter said the States can use SDRF for providing temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medical care to the affected people sheltered in quarantine camps or for cluster containment operations for 30 days.
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The number of quarantine camps, the duration of the camps and the number of persons quarantined in such camps will be decided by the state executive committee, it said and added that the expenditure on this account should not exceed 25 per cent of the SDRF allocation for the year. Allocation of funds for the SDRF in 2019-20 Odisha budget was Rs 909 crore.
Funds can be used for setting up additional government testing laboratories, procuring thermal scanners, ventilators and other necessary equipment. The Centre said expenditure is to be incurred from SDRF only and not from the NDRF as assessed by the State executive committee to strengthen the surveillance and control measures against Covid-19 outbreak.
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However, expenditure on equipment should not exceed 10 per cent of the annual allocation under the SDRF, the letter said and added that cost of hospitalisation for managing patients will be fixed by the state government. The state government will bear the cost of protective gears used by healthcare, municipal, police and fire authorities. However, any amount spent above the ceiling will be borne out of the resources of the state government and not SDRF.
Guidelines
States can use SDRF for providing temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medical care.
Expenditure should not exceed 25 per cent of the SDRF allocation for the year.
Funds can be used for setting up additional government testing laboratories, procuring thermal scanners, ventilators.
Allocation of funds for the SDRF in 2019-20 Odisha budget was Rs 909 crore.
Cost of hospitalisation for managing Covid-19 patients will be fixed by the states.