Guwahati, Aug 13 (IBNS): While Assam is facing devastating flood and erosion every year and several hundred of people have lost their lives in the natural fury, the state has received no central aid for flood management since 2014 apart from its share in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
The state received not a single penny from the centre under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) since 2014.
This year, 32 out of 33 districts in the state are affected in the first wave flood and 90 people have lost their lives in the devastating flood.
Over 2 lakh hectare crop lands were submerged by flood waters and properties worth several hundred crore were damaged in the first wave flood.
Following it, the Centre has not released any money for Assam under the National Disaster Response Fund since 2014-15.
According to the government data, the centre had released over Rs 32,000 crore under NDRF to different states during 2014-15 to 2017-18.
The centre had released Rs 3460.88 crore under NDRF in 2014-15 to Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand.
Similarly, the centre had released Rs 12,451.96 crore under NDRF in 2015-16 to Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
In 2016-17, the centre had released Rs 11,441.30 crore under NDRF to Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and in 2017-18, the centre released Rs 4722.53 crore to Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Since 2014, over 500 people have lost their lives and properties worth several thousand crore rupees have been damaged in devastating flood, river erosion, landslides in Assam.
The Centre had released Rs 425.97 crore to Assam of its share under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) in 2014-15.
The Centre had released Rs 414 crore in 2015-16, Rs 434.70 crore in 2016-17, Rs 456.30 crore in 2017-18.
In this year, the Centre has released Rs 251.55 crore of its share under SDRF.
Rajya Sabha MP and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Ripun Bora said that, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee has strongly condemned this step motherly attitude of the BJP government.
“This BJP government came to power in 2014 and 2014 to 2018, not a single penny under the head of NDRF, which is due to Assam has not been released. This state government has not been able to combat with the flood situation. The love and affection of the BJP party to our Assam only in political lecture they said this things. But in reality, they have deprived the people of Assam by not releasing a single fund under the NDRF,” Ripun Bora said.
It is to be mentioned that, the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), constituted under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, supplements SDRF of a state, in case of a disaster of severe nature, provided adequate funds.
(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
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