Rs 23,000 crore given to state disaster fund, 50% of it for Covid fight

NEW DELHI: The Centre has allocated over Rs 23,000 crore towards State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the second successive year in 2021-22, half of which has been allowed to be used for Covid pandemic management. Last year, the Centre had released Rs 29,000 crore towards state disaster funds.
Some states like Odisha have been effectively putting this fund to use in disaster mitigation by building resilient infrastructure. The state’s cyclone centres built along its coastal districts served as Covid quarantine centres last year for lakhs of returning migrants. Karnataka on Sunday announced allocation of Rs 15 crore from this fund for purchase of ambulances and other equipment.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has been often praised for his disaster mitigation efforts. Recently, he received congratulatory messages on Twitter from Mami Mizutori, head of the UN office for disaster risk reduction, for his efforts towards pandemic management and coming to the rescue of other states when they were facing anwith acute oxygen crisis.
As per the recommendation of the 15th finance commission, the government changed its policy, shifting its focus from spending just on rescue and relief to building resilient infrastructure.
Annually for last 20 years, India on an average has suffered economic losses of $10 billion to disasters. For the first time the Centre has constituted the National Disaster Risk Management Fund and encouraged states to have their own which will address both response, mitigation and long term recovery.