Rs 1,604 cr approved for modernisation of fire services in 5 states

A high-level committee under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah has approved projects worth Rs 1,604.39 crore under the ‘Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services’ scheme for five states -- Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Kerala.According to the MHA officials, Rs 340.90 crore were approved for Bihar, Rs 339.18 crore for Gujarat, Rs 147.97 crore for Jharkhand, Rs 162.25 crore for Kerala and Rs 614.09 crore for Maharashtra.

The committee -- comprising of Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog -- considered several proposals for financial assistance to the states from the Recovery and Re-Construction Funding Window and the Preparedness and Capacity Building Funding Window under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

“The Central Government has also allocated a total amount of Rs 5,000 crore under the NDRF for the ‘Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services in the states”. It had already approved the proposals of 20 states for a total of Rs 3,373.12 crore,” an official said.

Besides, the committee approved a financial assistance of Rs 555.70 crore for Sikkim for disaster recovery and reconstruction needs of various sectors that were affected due to the Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) in the downstream of the Teesta river basin in October 2023.

The official said in the current fiscal, the Centre has released Rs 19,074.80 crore to 28 states under the SDRF and Rs 3,229.35 crore to 16 states under the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF). An amount of Rs 5,160.76 crore has been released to 19 states under the NDRF and Rs 719.71 crore to eight states under the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF).