671 Died, Over 32,000 Houses Damaged in Floods, Says MHA

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said that a total of 671 deaths have been reported due to the current flood situation in the country, while a total of 32,833 houses have been damaged till August 5.

The MHA also informed that standing crops in 2,58,371 hectares of land have been damaged due to the floods in the country so far this year.

As per the latest MHA report, till August 5, the state of Maharashtra recorded highest number of deaths at 306, followed by Rajasthan (63), Madhya Pradesh (57), Kerala (56), Himachal Pradesh (37), Gujarat (21), and Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh (19 each).

Karnataka witnessed the highest number of house collapses at 15,552, followed by Kerala (6,385), Chhattisgarh (2,040), Gujarat (1,090), Tripura (1,646) and Meghalaya (1,403).

The report also stated that Karnataka has also suffered maximum damage to standing crops in 2,08,686 hectares of land, followed by Kerala (20,259 ha) and Andhra Pradesh (16,643 ha).

Sharing this report with the Parliament on Wednesday, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanad Rai, said that during the current financial year (2021-22), the first instalment of Central share of SDRF amounting to Rs 8873.60 crore has already been allocated to to all the states, including Rs 1,288.80 crore for Maharashtra.

The ministry also stated that the allocation of State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) to the states is based on the recommendations of successive Finance Commissions, set up under Article 280 of the Constitution, from time to time.

The MHA allocates financial assistance to the states in case of loss incurred by natural calamities to state governments from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) through a well-laid procedure.

In case of natural calamity or disaster, first an on-the-spot assessment is made by an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) comprising representatives of Central ministries/departments, along with the officials of the concerned states.

The report of IMCT is then considered by the Sub-committee of National Executive Committee (SC-NEC) chaired by Union Home Secretary and consisting of representatives of various ministries concerned.

Subsequently, the recommendations of SC-NEC are considered and approved by the high-level committee chaired by the Union Home Minister and consisting of Union Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog as members.

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