Additional flood assistance for Assam

The visit by the Inter Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) to flood-hit areas of Assam for flood damage assessment is a routine exercise, but it has put the spotlight on the norms of Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) for recovery and reconstruction. Apart from the economic aspect of providing relief and rehabilitation to the affected population and the repair of damaged infrastructure, accuracy of the assessment is also critical for engineering solutions for flood mitigation. The national policy on disaster management states that the primary responsibility for flood management lies with the state governments concerned. The state government will undertake an assessment of the damage and provide financial relief in the wake of the floods from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) already placed at its disposal. When the funds available under SDRF are exhausted, additional financial assistance is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) based on the assessment by the IMCT. The central team visits the state twice for flood damage assessment—the first time immediately after the flood occurrence and the second time after the state government submits a comprehensive PDNA report. Under the existing institutional mechanisms at the national and state levels, based on its own assessment and interactions with the state government, the IMCT submits its report to the Subcommittee of the National Executive Committee. The High Level Committee (HLC) of the Central Government, chaired by the Union Home Minister, approves the final amount of additional financial assistance from NDRF to the state. The mismatch between the amount sought by the Assam government as additional assistance and the amount approved by the HLC is baffling, as there are standing procedures and guidelines for carrying out the PDNA. The overall PDNA for the state is based on flood damage assessments at the district level. The guideline on the disaster response fund states that whenever the SDRF of a state is replenished with additional grant-in-aid from the NDRF, the state government will treat this grant in the same manner as the funds in the SDRF as far as transfer and accounting are concerned. However, in such cases, a specific utilisation certificate will be required within three months from the date of release of such a grant. The norms stipulate that 50% of SDRF is to be spent on flood response and relief, which includes ex-gratia payments to families of the deceased, injured, clothing, utensils, and household goods for families whose houses have been washed away, fully damaged, or inundated for more than two days. Flood response and relief assistance also include Gratuitous Relief (GR) for those whose livelihoods have been seriously affected. It allows providing GR to two adult members of such an affected family as per the actual daily wage rate of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The period for providing GR is as per the assessment of the State Executive Committee under SDRF and the IMCT assessment in case of additional NDRF assistance. The expenditure on account of GR cannot exceed 30% of the SDRF allocation. The transparency clause requires uploading the list of persons to whom GR has been provided on the website of the state government. There are detailed guidelines on providing assistance to small and marginal farmers for desilting of cultivable land, irrigation, restoration of fish farms, input subsidy, provision of fodder, feed for cattle, assistance to handloom artisans for loss of raw materials, processed goods, and main or functional tools, assistance for rebuilding damaged houses, etc. The list is comprehensive, but the damage assessment also needs to be comprehensive for optimal utilization of the SDRF fund and to seek additional assistance when SDRF allocations fall short. However, due to rising input costs in agriculture and allied activities, utensils and household goods, and food inflation, an upward revision of the assistance amount for each item has become an urgent necessity. Similarly, the assistance of Rs 1.20 lakh for fully damaged concrete houses in plain areas and Rs 1.3 lakh for hilly areas is also inadequate given the spiralling prices of building material and construction osts. Adjusting the assistance amount to the rising prices of materials has become an absolute necessity, and this is where the state governments can impress upon the central government for higher allocations under both SDRF and additional assistance from NDRF so that the relief provided to the affected people is optimal to rebuild their lives. Resilience of affected people against annual floods comes from reduced time in the restoration of their livelihoods and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure. As 40% of the state’s area is flood-prone, structural solutions such as strengthening and the construction of embankments need special attention to provide better protection to people and reduce the intensity of damage. The expenditure required by the state government to strengthen the embankment network that has outlived its span is huge, and the state does not have enough resources to undertake it and is perennially dependent on disaster assistance for temporary repairs. The central government must provide special assistance for this structural solution.