High-Level Committee under Amit Shah approves Rs 3,027.86 crore for disaster mitigation for various states

New Delhi [India], January 29 (ANI): A High-Level Committee (HLC), under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has approved Rs 3,027.86 crore for disaster mitigation projects for various states.
The committee, comprising the Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Vice Chairman NITI Aayog as members, considered proposals for the Mitigation Project on Lightning Safety to mitigate lightning Risk in 50 heavy lightning prone districts in 10 states and catalytic assistance to 49 districts of 12 most drought prone states for funding from National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF).
The High-Level Committee has approved a project for catalytic assistance to the 12 most drought prone states at a total outlay of Rs 2,022.16 crore, out of which, central share will be Rs 1,200 crore. These 12 states are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
The Committee has also approved the mitigation project on lightning safety in 10 states at a total outlay of Rs 186.78 crore for Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The Home Minister has also approved the mitigation scheme for forest fire risk management for implementation in 144 high-priority districts in 19 states at a total outlay of Rs 818.92 crores, out of which central share from NDMF and NDRF will be Rs 690.63 crore.
The primary objective of the scheme will be to implement a mitigation project for transforming the forest fire management approach in the country so as to strengthen and support vital forest fire prevention and mitigation activities.
The states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttarakhand will submit their respective proposals undertaking necessary activities for mitigation of forest fires, preparedness for forest fire response as well as for post-fire assessment and recovery.
Prior to these proposals, the HLC had approved financial assistance from NDMF for other projects viz. Urban Flood Risk Mitigation Projects in seven major cities at a total outlay of Rs 3,075.65 crore, GLOF Risk Management in four states at a total outlay of Rs 150 crore and Landslide Risk Mitigation in 15 states at a total outlay of Rs 1,000 crore.
Further, more than Rs 24,981 crore has already been released to the states during the current financial year. This includes Rs 17,479.60 crore from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to 27 states, Rs 4,808.30 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to 18 states, Rs 1,973.55 crore from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to 13 states and Rs 719.72 crore from National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to eight states. (ANI)