By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JAN 30, 2025: A High-Level Committee (HLC), under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah, has approved Rs. 3027.86 crore for disaster mitigation projects for various states. The committee, comprising of Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Vice Chairman NITI Aayog as members considered proposals of Mitigation Project on Lightning Safety to mitigate lightning Risk in 50 heavy lightning prone districts in 10 states and catalytic assistance to 49 districts of 12 most drought prone states for funding from National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF).

The High-Level Committee has approved project for catalytic assistance to 12 most drought prone states at a total outlay of Rs. 2022.16 crore, out of which, Central share will be Rs. 1200 crore.  These 12 states are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

The Committee has also approved the Mitigation Project on Lightning Safety in 10 states at a total outlay of Rs. 186.78 crore for Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Union Home Minister has also approved the Mitigation Scheme for Forest Fire Risk Management for implementation in 144 high-priority districts in 19 states at a total outlay of Rs. 818.92 crores, out of which central share from NDMF & NDRF will be Rs. 690.63 Crore. The primary objective of the scheme will be to implement a mitigation project for transforming the forest fire management approach in the country so as to strengthen and support vital forest fire prevention and mitigation activities .  The states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttarakhand will submit their respective proposals undertaking necessary activities for mitigation of forest fires, preparedness for forest fire response as well as for post-fire assessment and recovery.

To fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of disaster resilient India, the Ministry of Home Affairs, under the guidance of Home Minister Amit Shah, has taken several initiatives to ensure effective management of disasters in the country. The Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi has taken a number of steps to prevent any extensive loss of life and property during disasters by strengthening the disaster risk reduction system in India. 

Prior to these proposals, the HLC had approved financial assistance from NDMF for other projects viz. Urban Flood Risk Mitigation Projects in seven major cities at a total outlay of Rs 3075.65 crore, GLOF Risk Management in 4 states at a total outlay of Rs. 150 crore and Landslide Risk Mitigation in 15 states at a total outlay of Rs. 1000 Crore.

Further, more than Rs. 24,981 crore has already been released to the states during the current financial year. This includes Rs.17479.60 crore from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to 27 states, Rs.4808.30 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to 18 states, Rs.1973.55 crore from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to 13 states and Rs. 719.72 crore from National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to 08 states.