The Union government approved over Rs 1,682 crore as additional assistance to five states and a union territory which were hit by floods and landslides last year. The approval of the additional central assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has been given by a High Level Committee (HLC) headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The HLC approved the additional central assistance of Rs 1,664.25 crore to five states from the NDRF and Rs 17.86 crore to Puducherry, an official statement said on Thursday, March 3. While Rs 351.43 crore has been approved for Andhra Pradesh, Rs 112.19 crore has been given to Himachal Pradesh, Rs 492.39 crore to Karnataka, Rs 355.39 crore to Maharashtra, Rs 352.85 crore to Tamil Nadu and Rs 17.86 crore to Puducherry.

This additional assistance is over and above the funds released to states in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), already placed at the disposal of the states. During the financial year 2021-22, the Union government released Rs 17,747.20 crore to 28 states in their SDRF and Rs 4,645.92 crore to eight states from the NDRF.

On December 30, 2021, the Union government had approved Rs 3,063.21 crore to six states which were affected by floods, landslides and cyclones during 2021.

Under this, Rs 1,133.35 crore was given to Gujarat to mitigate the impact of Cyclone Tauktae, while Rs 586.59 crore has been allocated to West Bengal for cyclone Yaas' which hit the state in May 2021. At the time, Rs 51.53 crore was allocated to Assam, Rs 504.06 crore to Karnataka, Rs 600.50 crore to Madhya Pradesh and Rs 187.18 crore to Uttarakhand against the damages caused by the floods and landslides during the southwest monsoon this year.

Kerala, which saw extreme rains leading to flooding in October 2021, was not given any extra assistance.