(a) whether the Union Government is aware that the State of Assam has been demanding for since ten years that river bank erosion along with recurring floods be included in the definition of National Calamity; and
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Union Government thereto?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI & SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)
(a) & (b) The recurrent flood problem in Assam leads to loss of life, property and creates ecological imbalance. Flood is a natural calamity and is attributed to various factors like wide variation in rainfall, both in time and space with frequent departure from normal pattern, inadequate carrying capacities of rivers, river bank erosion, silting of river beds, landslides, poor natural drainage, snow melts and glacial lake out bursts. Under the existing Scheme of State Disaster Response Fund/National Disaster Response Fund of Ministry of Home Affairs, there is no such provision to declare any disaster including flood as a “National Problem/Calamity”. However, in the event of disaster of a ‘severe nature’, financial assistance towards the notified natural disasters including flood is met from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) which is further supplemented from the cess-based fund of National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) in accordance with the established procedure, which includes an assessment based on the visit of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team
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