High-Level Committee approves disaster mitigation, capacity building projects for states

NEW DELHI, July 25 : A High-Level Committee, under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday approved a number of disaster mitigation and capacity building projects for various states.

The committee in today’s meeting approved six project proposals for Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal and Maharashtra at a total cost of Rs 2514.36 crore for Urban Flood Management in six metro cities Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.

The meeting of HLC comprising Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Vice Chairman NITI Aayog as members 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 four hill states and to strengthen fire services in three states.

The committee also considered a proposal to implement Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme in all the 28 states, an official statement said.

Earlier, HLC, on November 27 2023, had approved the project proposal for integrated solutions for flood management for Tamil Nadu in Chennai city at a cost of Rs 561.29 crore.

HLC also approved three project proposals under the scheme for “Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services in the states” for Assam, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with 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.

Moreover, the committee also approved a project proposal for GLOF risk mitigation for 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 crores to 14 states under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and Rs 672 crores to six states under State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF). Besides, an amount of Rs 4265 crore has been released to 10 states under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). (UNI)

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}