Modi 3.0 government sanctioned Rs 12,554 cr to states as disaster relief

New Delhi: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 12,554 crore to various states this year so far for providing relief and rehabilitation to people affected by different natural disasters, officials said on Wednesday.

Rs 890.69 crore has also been sanctioned to five states by the Union Home Ministry to help them in expansion and strengthening of their fire services under the Scheme for Expansion and Modernisation of Fire Services.

Approximately Rs 12,554 crore has been sanctioned so far from the National Disaster Mitigation Fund, National Disaster Response Fund, State Disaster Mitigation Fund and State Disaster Response Fund to various states for urban flood management, fire services, glacial lake outburst flood risk mitigation and other disaster mitigation, a senior official of the Union Home Ministry said listing the highlights of the first 100 days of the Modi 3.0 government.

Besides, under the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Mitigation Programme for four states, Rs 150 crore has been given to Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh to adopt various structural and non-structural mitigation measures to address the risks of GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood).

An amount of Rs 2,514.36 crore has been sanctioned under the integrated urban flood management project and urban flood risk management programme to help the states in preparing the integrated solutions for urban flood management in cities and urban areas, the official said.

The Central government has also approved 'Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme' as an extension of existing programme of 'Upscaling of Aapda Mitra Scheme' with an outlay of Rs 470.50 crore.

As part of an ambitious plan, 2.31 lakh volunteers exclusively from the National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and Bharat Scouts and Guides (BSG) and 1,300 trainers will be given training in disaster response under 'Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme', another official said.

Major outcomes under the ongoing schemes are: approximately 1,00,000 community volunteers will be trained and equipped in 350 multi-hazards disaster prone districts covering all the states and UTs under 'Aapda Mitra Scheme'.

The Central government has also provided geographical based, instant alert on impending emergency and disaster through mobile phones.

By launching an integrated emergency response system with a single emergency number 112, all emergency signals received from the citizens through voice call, SMS, e-mail, panic SOS signal, ERSS web portal etc. are addressed under ERSS.

The government has also plans to amend the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and a bill in this effect was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 2.

The bill seeks to achieve the objectives of bringing more clarity and convergence in the roles of different central government organisations like the National Disaster Management Authority and National Executive Committee, which are working in the field of disaster management.

It will also provide statutory status to certain pre-Act organisations like the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) and High-Level Committee (HLC), promote more efficient NDMA and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs).

Besides providing creation of disaster data base at the national and state level, the legislation will help make provision for creation of urban disaster management authority to make provision for creation of state disaster response force and strengthen institutional mechanism in the field of disaster management, which is likely to generate indirect opportunities for employment for people engaged in the field of disaster management.

It would bring more clarity and convergence in the roles of different government organisations working in the field of disaster management, thereby resulting into more effective management of disasters which in turn would also help the poor and disadvantaged sections and further lead the country to become Atmanirbhar in the field of disaster management, the officials said.