Govt clears aid for quake-hit Sikkim, flood-hit Odisha

The UPA government cleared nearly Rs 1300 crore and Rs 900 crore respectively for Sikkim and Odisha as financial aid from National Disaster Relief Fund. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

The UPA government cleared nearly Rs 1300 crore and Rs 900 crore respectively for Sikkim and Odisha as financial aid from National Disaster Relief Fund.

The relief package, however, falls far short of the demands made by the states. Sikkim —hit by a massive earthquake on September 18 — had sought Rs 7,400 crore from the Centre, while the Odisha government had asked for Rs 3265.38 crore after it suffered two floods in September.

The high-level committee, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, approved Rs 227.51 crore under National Disaster Relief Fund for Sikkim. It also noted that “assistance for permanent reconstruction and mitigation measures in respect of government buildings, mines, minerals and geology and other important infrastructure will be separately met out of Rs 1,000 crore announced by the prime minister.”

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During his visit to the earthquake-hit Sikkim, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced Rs 1,000 crore as relief funds after the 6.8-magnitude tremor killed around 80 people and injured 350 others.

Sikkim will also get Rs 41.64 crore from special component of national rural drinking water project.

For Odisha the Centre has allotted Rs 908.30 crore and

R10 crore separately for drinking water.

The government, will however, bear the air-bills for air-dropping of essential supplies in two states.

While Sikkim government submitted a memorandum to the home ministry demanding Rs 7,400 crore, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik sent a letter to finance minister on December 2, asking the centre to quickly dispose monetary aid.

In his letter, Patnaik said while the centre had promptly deputed an inter-ministerial central team to assess the scale of damage from the twin floods, no money has come yet.

Asking the Centre to release assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund at the earliest, the Odisha government wanted an ad-hoc assistance of Rs 1000 crore for flood relief and rehabilitation work.