(a) whether the Central Team has recently visited the flood affected districts of different
States including Tamil Nadu;
(b) if so, the details thereof alongwith the assistance provided by the Union Government to
the States so far;
(c) whether the State Governments have requested for further assistance to mitigate the problems of the flood affected people;
(d) if so, the action taken by the Union Government thereon; and
(e) if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS(SHRIMATI RADHIKA V. SELVI)
(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 9 FOR 26.02.2008
REGARDING “RELIEF TO STATES AFFECTED BY FLOODSâ€
The State Governments are primarily responsible for undertaking relief measures in the wake of
natural calamities. The Government of India supplements the efforts of the State Governments
by providing logistic and financial support. Financial assistance in the wake of natural
calamities is provided to States through the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF), allocation for which
is made to various States based on the recommendations of the successive Finance Commissions.
CRF is supplemented by the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) in the wake of a calamity
of a severe nature after following the laid down procedure.
2. Twelve States and one Union Territory viz. Andhra Pradesh (2 memoranda), Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka (3 memoranda), Orissa (2 memoranda),
Mizoram, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Union Territory of Pondicherry have submitted
memoranda seeking additional Central assistance from NCCF for relief operations in the areas
affected by floods etc. during this year, so far. Upon receipt of the memoranda, Inter-
Ministerial Teams had been constituted immediately which visited all the aforesaid States,
except the UT of Puducherry, for an on the spot assessment of damage and requirement of funds.
The memorandum from Puducherry has been received recently and a Team has been constituted
which will be visiting the UT shortly. An Inter-Ministerial Central Team visited Tamil Nadu
during 10-12th January 2008, for an on the spot assessment of damage and requirement of funds.
The report of the Central Team has been received and processed. Certain clarifications
have been sought from the State
Government, which are still awaited. On receipt of clarifications, the request of the State
Government will be placed before Inter Ministerial Group and High Level Committee for
consideration and approval of funds from NCCF. However, the entire Central share of CRF
amounting to Rs. 172.88 crore for the year 2007-08 has already been released to Tamil Nadu.
3. As stated above, to ensure ready availability of funds with the States to undertake
rescue and relief operations in the wake of natural calamities, a Calamity Relief Fund (CRF)
has been constituted for each State, which is contributed by Government of India and the State
Governments in the ratio of 75:25. For the year 2007-08, the allocation is of the order of
Rs. 4258.85 crore, out of which 75% amounting to Rs. 3194.14 crore is the share of Government
of India and 25% amounting to Rs. 1064.71 crore is the share of State Governments. During
the year, an amount of Rs. 2486.31 crore has been released as Central share of CRF. The
remaining share of Government of India will be released after submission of utilization
certificates by the concerned States. In addition, financial assistance of Rs. 283.97 crore
has also been released during the year from NCCF, which includes Rs. 50.00 crore released
on an ‘on account’ basis to the State of Kerala for floods of 2007.
4. HLC has considered 7 memoranda of the States and approved the following assistance from
NCCF. (subject to adjustment of 75% of the balance in the CRF account) :-
Andhra Pradesh (1st memorandum)
# Rs. 136.053 crore + Payment of Air bills + Aviation fuel on actual basis.
Karanataka (1st memorandum)
# Rs. 117.45 crore + Rs. 3.318 crore from Special Component of Accelerated Rural Water
Supply Programme (ARWSP).
Karanataka (2nd memorandum)
# 121.80 crore + Rs. 1.33 crore from Special Component of ARWSP.
Orissa (1st memorandum)
# Rs.59.33 crore + Rs. 0.719 crore from Special Component of ARWSP + Payment of Air
bills on actual basis.
Orissa (2nd memorandum)
# Rs.139.69 crore + Rs. 2.376 crore from Special Component of ARWSP.
Himachal Pradesh
# Rs. 59.89 crore + Rs. 12.96 crore from Special Component of ARWSP.
Kerala
# Rs. 134.396 crore + Rs. 1.32 crore from Special Component of ARWSP + release of 35,300
MTs foodgrains from special component of Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY).
5. The remaining memoranda are in various stages of processing, as per the laid down
procedure. This exercise is likely to be completed shortly.
6. The Scheme of CRF and NCCF provide for assistance for immediate rescue and relief
operations as well as repairs of immediate nature of damaged infrastructure with a view to
provide/restore connectivity to the affected areas for reaching the relief to the affected
people. The expenditure on restoration of damaged infrastructure, preparedness and mitigation
measures are required to be built into the State Plans. For this purpose, the concerned
State Governments are required to submit their Plan proposals for consideration of the
Government. So far, no State affected by floods during 2007 has submitted its Plan proposals
for the aforementioned purpose.