Centre approves Rs 815 crore as drought assistance for Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The Centre today approved drought assistance of Rs 815 crore from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Mohapatra said.

Mohapatra said the assistance was approved at the High Level Committee meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi.

"The Committee examined Odisha's memoranda seeking an assistance of Rs 2199 crore to tackle drought situation in the state. The committee also examined the report of the Central Team which visited the affected areas in the drought," Mohapatra said.

He said the state government had earlier submitted two memoranda with the Centre seeking Rs 2199 crore as standing crops over 13.41 lakh hectare in 215 blocks of 26 districts sustained crop loss of 33 per cent and more.

"We will submit the final drought report with the Centre after getting crop cutting reports from districts. The final report is likely to be prepared by January 15," the SRC said adding that the state was expecting some more assistance as the severity of drought is acute in parts of Odisha.

The ruling BJD spokesman S B Behera said the Centre should re-consider the amount of drought assistance approved by the High Level Committee. "The state government has already sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore from its own resources for drought mitigation," Behera said.