A High-Level Committee, under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah, has approved a number of disaster mitigation and capacity building projects for various states. The meeting of HLC comprising of Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Vice Chairman NITI Aayog as members held in New Delhi on 25th July 2024.
The Ministry of Home Affairs informed that the Committee considered a total of nine proposals for funding from National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to combat Urban Flooding in six cities, to mitigate Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in 4 Hill states and to strengthen Fire Services in 3 states. The committee also considered a proposal to implement Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme in all the 28 states.
The High-Level Committee approved six project proposals in the states of Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal and Maharashtra at a total cost of Rs. 2514.36 crore for Urban Flood Management in six metro cities, namely Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune. Earlier, HLC, on 27th November 2023, had approved the Project proposal for integrated solutions for flood management for the state of Tamil Nadu in Chennai city at a cost of Rs. 561.29 crore.
The Committee also approved three project proposals under the scheme for “Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services in the states” for the Assam, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu of a total outlay of Rs. 810.64 crore. Central Government has allocated a total amount of Rs. 5000 crore under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for this scheme, and had already approved the proposals of 11 states at a total outlay of Rs. 1691.43 crore.
In addition, High-Level Committee also approved a project proposal for GLOF risk mitigation for the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh at a total outlay of Rs. 150 crore. The GLOF Risk Mitigation Project will provide necessary impetus to these four states in taking necessary mitigation measures to address GLOF risks.
HLC also approved a proposal of Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme (YAMS) at an outlay of Rs.470.50 crore from NDRF, which will be implemented in 315 most disaster-prone districts of the country for training of 1300 trained Aapda Mitra Volunteers as Master Trainers and 2.37 lakh volunteers exclusively from NCC, NSS, NYKS and BS&G (Bharat Scouts &Guides) in disaster preparedness and response.
During the current financial year, Central Government has released Rs 6348 crore to 14 states under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and Rs 672 crore to 06 states under State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF). In addition, an amount of Rs. 4265 crore has been released to 10 states under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
