Assam received only Rs 294.37-crore NDRF in past 5 years

 Flood damage far outweighs additional central assistance

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Floods are perennial in Assam, causing much damage to infrastructure besides the loss of human life and livestock that continue to impact the economy of the state for years. What amount does Assam get from the Centre as additional financial assistance under the NDRF (National Disaster Response Fund) to fight floods and restore damaged infrastructure?

Many organizations in Assam have long been demanding the declaration of floods and erosion in the state as a national problem. However, successive governments at the Centre and in the state continue to say that ‘there is no such provision to declare floods in a particular state a national problem’. The state government has often said that declaring floods a national problem is not at all important, and what is important is getting adequate funds from the Centre’.

Now the moot question is: does Assam get adequate NDRF from the Centre after devastating floods in the state? Statistics from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have spelled it out in no uncertain terms that Assam has received Rs 294.37 crore in NDRF only in the past five financial years, from 2018-19 to 2022–23. According to the statistics of the MHA, in the financial years 2018–19, 2019–20, and 2021–22, Assam has not received any NDRF. Assam got Rs 47.37 crore in 2020–21 and Rs 250 crore in 2022–23.

Some other states of the country that face disasters get more NDRF from the Centre than Assam. For instance, in the past five financial years, Andhra Pradesh got Rs 2232.81 crore from the NDRF, Bihar got Rs 3247.4 crore, Rs 1,000 crore from Gujarat, Rs 962.51 crore from Himachal Pradesh, Rs 7420.52 crore from Karnataka, Rs 4538.43 crore from Madhya Pradesh, Rs 481.149 crore from Nagaland, Rs 2557.84 crore from Rajasthan, Rs 1753.53 crore from Tamil Nadu, Rs 3558.74 crore by West Bengal, and Rs 4635.82 crore by Odisha. Compared to all these states, the NDRF amount for Assam is quite meagre.

The MHA provides two types of funds to the states to fight disasters: SDRF (State Disaster Response Funds) and NDRF. The Centre releases the SDRF based on the recommendations of the Finance Commission in the 90:10 (90 percent by the Centre and 10 percent by the State government) funding pattern. The NDRF is the prerogative of the Centre. Since NDRF is 100 percent centrally funded, the state government does not need to pay any matching share. Thus, only the NDRF is treated as additional funds that have much to do for Assam, where perennial floods cause much damage to infrastructure. The NDRF was raised in 2006 following the devastating tsunami that hit the coastal areas of the country. The primary objective of NDRF is to provide a timely, adequate, and effective response to disasters and emergencies.

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