Tamil Nadu has been sanctioned Rs 352.85 crore for the floods which inundated parts of the state in 2021, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said. The MoS for Home was replying to DMK Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) P Wilson, who had written to the Union government seeking funds.
In his letter to the MP, the minister said that an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) was constituted which visited the affected areas between November 21-24, 2021. “Based on the report of IMCT and recommendation of the Sub-Committee of National Executive Committee (SC-NEC), the High Level Committee (HLC) in its meeting held in March, 2022 has approved an assistance of Rs. 352.85 crore to the Government of Tamil Nadu for flood 2021 caused by heavy rain,” the letter read.
On February 2, the MP had raised the matter in Parliament during Zero Hour and sought assistance of Rs 6,230.45 crore for damages incurred during the floods.
The letter by the MoS stated that the primary responsibility for disaster management lies with the state government, with relief to be given from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
Additional financial assistance is provided from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) as per laid down procedure in case of disaster of 'severe nature', which includes an assessment based on the visit of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT), the letter said.
In terms of what has been disbursed for the 2021-22 financial year, the MoS for Home said that the Tamil Nadu government has been allocated Rs 1,088 crore under SDRF — Rs 816 crore as the Union government’s share and Rs 272 crore as the state share. In a tweet, MP P Wilson said that he hopes the remaining funds will be released soon.