Central panel okays release of Rs 1,280 crore assistance to Himachal, 3 more states to combat natural calamities

A high-level committee headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday approved a Rs 1,280.35 crore additional Central assistance to Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to combat natural calamities.

An amount of Rs 588.73 crore was approved for Bihar, Rs 136.22 crore for Himachal Pradesh, Rs 522.34 crore for Tamil Nadu and Rs 33.06 crore for Puducherry, which were affected by flood, flash flood, cloudburst, landslides, cyclonic storm, during 2024.

In 2024-25, the Central Government had released Rs 20,264.40 crore to 28 states under State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) and Rs 5,160.76 crore under NDRF to 19 states.

This additional assistance is over and above the funds released by the Centre to the states in the SDRF and Union Territorial Disaster Response Fund (UTDRF), already placed at the disposal of the states, official sources said.