Four states seek drought, flood relief from Centre

New Delhi, Sept 20: Four states; Maharastra, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Bihar have sought assistance from the National Calamity Contingency Fund for flood relief, while Bihar has reported loss of kharif crop this monsoon.

The High Level Committee on Calamity Relief has received a memoranda from these states seeking their and Central support.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that a Central team will visit the region and will assess the damage to the standing crop due to drought. Kumar had met Pawar on Thursday and submitted a memorandum of Rs 11,000 crore assitance from the Central.

The east and the north eastern regions have suffered from defecient rains by 25 per cent this kharif season affecting Bihar and other states, whereas in some parts of the country, like Vidarbha in Maharastra , the rains have been above normal resulting in floods.

Pawar also received a request from flood affected regions in Maharastra amounting to Rs 1,514 crore.

The committee, that met on Thursday, discussed the memoranda that it received from Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, who sought assistance for flood damage. Pawar said that Bihar had declared drought in 33 districts.

In Maharastra, a sizeable crop of cotton, soyabean and paddy had been affected, thereby affecting the quality of the final product.

OneIndia News