GUWAHATI, Nov 12 - Due to delays caused by the Central government in releasing its share of the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF), Assam gets very little time to make use of the same, which results in non-utilisation of a substantial amount of money every financial year.
This has also prevented the State from getting the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
An official source said there is a guideline under which every year the Central government releases SDRF money to all the states of the country and the process of releasing it is the same for all the states.
�In Assam the flood season which starts earlier is also comparatively longer than in other states. So we get a very small period to carry out damage repairing and restoration works. Due to this technically a sizeable amount of SDRF money always remains unutilised in the State. As a result, from 2012 we have been deprived of money under the NDRF too,� the source said.
In the 2020-21 financial year, the total allocation of fund under SDRF was Rs 858 crore. In May the Central government released Rs 386 crore as the first instalment against the total allocated amount. Sources at Dispur said the State government has already sent a proposal to the Centre seeking the second instalment of the fund and expects it to be released soon.
Meanwhile, recently the State government submitted the final flood memorandum of the year to the Centre citing an overall damage of Rs 2,642.99 crore.
As per the final flood memorandum, this year�s flood caused loss of Rs 145.87 crore in the agriculture sector, Rs 1.02 crore in animal husbandry sector, Rs 11.14 crore in fishery sector, Rs 4.95 crore in handicraft, handloom and sericulture sectors, Rs 1,194.97 crore in the Water Resources Department, Rs 54.95 crore in the irrigation department, Rs 630.13 crore in the Public Works Department, Rs 15.99 crore in the Public Health Engineering Department, Rs 17.83 crore in the power sector, Rs 30.59 crore in the elementary education department, Rs 1.18 crore in the health and family welfare department, Rs 33.24 crore in the social welfare department, Rs 201.90 crore in the panchayat and rural development department, Rs 13.66 crore in the environment and forest department and Rs 1.98 crore in the soil conservation department.���
This year, the deluge affected as many as 57.89 lakh people in 5,475 villages under 134 revenue circles in 30 districts of Assam. Floodwater claimed the lives of 124 people and landslides took lives of 26 people across the State.
During this monsoon, floodwater breached 24 river embankments and damaged 262 embankments in the flood-affected districts. Moreover, 92 elementary schools got fully damaged and 1,881 elementary schools were partially damaged in the recent flood. Altogether 2,612 Anganwadi centres and 219 public water supply systems were also affected by the deluge, the final flood memorandum stated.
