Finance Ministry releases Rs 7,532 crore to states in the wake of heavy rains across India

The finance ministry on Wednesday released Rs 7,532 crore to 22 state governments under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) amid rain causing havoc in the northern parts of the country.

The amount to states, including Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Maharashtra, has been released as per the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the finance ministry said in a statement.

In the wake of heavy rains across the country, the guidelines have been relaxed and the amount has been released as immediate assistance to states without waiting for the utilisation certificate of the amount provided to the states in the last financial year, it said.

Heavy rains in the last few days have caused havoc in the northern part of the country, including Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand.

The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) has been constituted in each state under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The fund is the primary fund available to state governments for responses to notified disasters.

The central government contributes 75 percent to the SDRF in general states and 90 percent in Northeast and Himalayan states.

The annual central contribution is released in two equal instalments as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission.

As per the guidelines, the funds are released on receipt of the Utilisation Certificate of the amount released in the earlier instalment and receipt of a report from the state government on the activities undertaken by SDRF.

However, in view of the urgency, these requirements were waived while releasing the funds this time.

The SDRF is to be used only for meeting the expenditure for providing immediate relief to the victims of notified calamities like cyclones, drought, earthquakes, fire, floods, tsunamis, hailstorms, landslides, avalanches, cloud bursts, pest attacks and frost & cold wave, the statement said.

Allocation of SDRF funds to the states is based on multiple factors like past expenditure, area, population and disaster risk index. These factors reflect states' institutional capacity, risk exposure and hazard and vulnerability.

Based on the 15th Finance Commission recommendations, the central government has allocated Rs 1,28,122.40 crore for SDRF for the years 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Out of this amount, the central government's share is Rs 98,080.80 crore. It had already released Rs 34,140 crore before the current release.

With the current release, the total amount of central share of SDRF released to the state governments so far has gone up to Rs 42,366 crore.

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