Centre Not To Declare Hudhud A National Calamity

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said that there was no provision in the guidelines to declare a "natural calamity" as a "national calamity".

Therefore, in view of its intensity and magnitude, the cyclone Hudhud, which hit Andhra Pradesh in October this year, has been adjudged a calamity of a "severe nature".

In his written reply to a question posed by TDP MP T Devender Goud in the Rajya Sabha, Rijiju said that the concerned State Governments were required to undertake the necessary relief measures in the Hudhud affected areas from the funds readily available in the corpus of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) as per norms.

"Financial assistance is towards relief and not for compensation of loss suffered. Additional expenditure, if any, incurred over and above or on other-than-approved items/norms, is required to be met by the States from their own resources and not from the SDRF/NDRF," he said.

The Union Minister said that the Government of India evaluates calamities' qualification for "severe nature" on a case-by-case basis taking into account inter-alia the intensity and magnitude of the calamity, the level of relief assistance needed, the capacity of the State Government to tackle the problem, the alternatives and flexibility available with the Plan to provide succor and relief etc.

The priority was immediate relief and response assistance in the context of a natural calamity, he said, stating that as such there were no fixed prescribed norms.

However, for a calamity of a "severe nature", additional assistance was also considered from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), after following the established procedures.

Rijiju said that the Centre had released an assistance of Rs 515.42 crores including Rs 115.42 crores from the SDRF and Rs 400 crores from the NDRF to Andhra Pradesh for immediate relief operations.

The Centre had also provided all possible logistical assistance like deployment of the Army, Air Force, Navy and National Disaster Response Force at strategic locations, sufficient food, medicines, satellite phone etc. to the affected State Governments for managing the cyclone and its aftermath. (INN)