Government approves Rs 5,083 crore drought relief to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra

The Centre on Tuesday sanctioned Rs 5,083 crore to Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as central assistance for coping with the drought faced by them.

The fund was approved by the high-level committee for central assistance to states on drought, landslides and floods headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh at its meeting attended by, among others, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

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Making allocations out of the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), the committee approved assistance of Rs 2,033 crore to Madhya Pradesh and Rs 3,050 crore for Maharashtra.

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The panel examined the proposals based on the report of the central team which had visited the two affected states by severe drought.

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There was a 14% deficit in southwest monsoon this year due to the influence of the El Nino phenomenon. Last year, there was a monsoon deficit of 12%. Rainfall deficits were experienced even as there were floods in some other parts of the country.

Vice-Chairman NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and senior officers of the Ministries of Home, Finance and Agriculture attended the meeting.