Centre sanctions nearly Rs 4,100 crore disaster relief to 7 states

NEW DELHI: A sum of nearly Rs 4,100 crore was today sanctioned by the government as disaster relief to seven states, including poll-bound Tamil Nadu and Assam.

The High Level Committee (HLC), chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, approved Rs 4,087.27 crore as central assistance to states affected by floods and drought.

The Committee examined the proposals based on the report of the central team which visited the affected states by severe drought.

The HLC approved the assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) in respect of Andhra Pradesh to the tune of Rs 280.19 crore, Rs 332.57 crore for Assam, Rs 170.19 crore for Himachal Pradesh and Rs 16.02 crore for Nagaland.

The HLC also approved an amount of Rs 336.94 crore for Jharkhand, Rs 1177.59 crore for Rajasthan and Rs 1773.78 crore for Tamil Nadu.

Assembly election will be held in Tamil Nadu and Assam in April-May. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and senior officers of the Ministries of Home, Finance and Agriculture attended the meeting.

Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh are among ten states in the country, which are reeling under severe drought conditions due to 14 per cent deficit monsoon this year.

Tamil Nadu witnessed massive floods in October 2015.