Bhubaneswar: The State Government has already spent Rs 444.45 crore for relief and restoration works due to natural calamities, including Cyclone Fani, this year.
A preliminary report revealed that the opening balance of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) was Rs 318 crore as on April 1, 2019. The Government has incurred an expenditure of Rs 444.45 crore for natural calamities and specifically Rs 212 crore for the Fani.
Officials admitted that if the Central Government had not released Rs 1,130 crore to the SDRF, the State Government would have faced financial constraints to deal withcalamity, which has affected in 14 districts.
According to sources, the Centre released the firstinstalment of its share of Rs 341 crore on May 1 before the Fani hit the State and the second instalment of Rs 788.87 crore on May 7, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the cyclone-affected areas. Notably, the Centreusually releases the first instalment from the NDRF in June. On receiving both the Central instalments, the State Government also released its share of Rs 61 croreimmediately.
While Rs 444.45 crore has been spent for relief and restoration works, the SDRF has now a balance of Rs 1,275.79 crore. So, the State Government is not facing any shortage of funds to take up relief, rescue, restoration and other steps in cyclone-hit areas.
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