a) Flood management primarily comes under the purview of the State Governments, and the schemes for flood control are formulated and implemented by concerned States as per their priorities. The Union Government supplements the efforts of the States including the States of North Eastern Region (NER) by providing technical guidance and promotional financial assistance for management of floods in critical areas. The central assistance released to the States of NER under “Flood Management Program (FMP)” component of Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP) since inception of FMP in the XI Plan is as follows:
Sl.No. States of NER Amount
(Rs.in crores)
1. Arunachal Pradesh 190.78
2. Assam 1300.47
3. Manipur 143.08
4. Meghalaya 3.81
5. Mizoram 16.89
6. Nagaland 93.96
7. Sikkim 91.84
8. Tripura 23.62
b) There are well established institutional mechanisms at the National, State & District levels in the country for appropriate preparedness and taking prompt response measures for effective management of natural disasters including heavy rains and floods. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has undertaken various tasks/initiatives including laying down policy and various guidelines on cross cutting issues on disaster management. Central Government has established a robust early warning system and has significantly enhanced the accuracy of weather forecasts. Forecasting agencies are continuing their efforts for the improvement of warning and dissemination systems vigorously. Mock exercises and community awareness programmes are being regularly conducted to educate people to reduce/ minimize the losses during/ impending natural disasters in the country. The measures taken by the Central and State governments have significantly improved disaster management practices, preparedness, prevention and response mechanism resulting in significant reduction in casualties during natural calamities, in the country including the states of NER. Further, strengthening of the disaster management is a continuing and evolving process of the governance.
c) The steps taken by the Government to prepare for natural disaster such as flood etc. in the country including NER include creation of shelters and training of communities, conducting mock drills and workshops for effectively responding to disasters, carrying out capacity building of disaster professionals and communities by NDMA, NDRF and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM). Also, the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC), an institution established under the joint initiative of Department of Space and North Eastern Council (NEC) uses satellite data on developing early warning system on natural calamities like floods.
d) The responsibility for disaster management primarily rests with the State Government concerned. The State Governments undertake relief measures in the wake of natural disasters form the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), placed at their disposal, in accordance with Government of India’s approved items and norms. 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 Inter-Ministerial Team. Ministry of DoNER also consults State Governments on important issues including floods and coordinates with central line Ministries to facilitate timely action.
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