Following hue and cry from Andhra Pradesh over the priority given to Tamil Nadu in releasing the calamity relief fund to take relief activities in the flood ravaged districts, the centre on Wednesday made available Rs 700 crore to the state with a rider. This amount is not from calamity relief fund which is normally a grant. But, the centre, to blunt the criticism from Andhra Pradesh, has diverted the amount due from the commitments it has to fulfill under Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act.204. If added to the already released 330 crore, the centre calculated , the total releases from the union government would be Rs 1030 crore in.
This is because, according to the union finance ministry officials, the state of Andhra Pradesh had already availed the funds ear marked for the for state for calamity relief under finance commission recommendations.
“During the financial year 2014-15, Andhra Pradesh had been given both its installments of Central contribution to the SDRF totaling Rs 230.85 crore. For the year 2015-16, both installments of central funding for SDRF of Rs 330 crore had been released earlier (in May and October 2015). So, the entire SDRF share for the year 2015-16 amounting to Rs 330 crore had been availed and there was no balance,” sources in the union finance ministry said. However, the sources added, to augment the State Fund, a sum of Rs 700 crore was released on November 23 as part of certain commitments made to AP consequent on the Re-organization Act of the erstwhile composite State of Andhra Pradesh, a communique from the Finance Ministry explained.
In the same breath, the Centre on Wednesday assured the State government that it would come to the rescue of AP to undertake restoration works in flood-hit Chittoor, Nellore and Kadapa districts, based on the report submitted by a Central team.
“Once, Central Team assesses flood damage and submits the report, appropriate measures will be taken from our side,” the Centre told the State government in the communique.
The centre clarified that taking note of the severity flood situation in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, it had taken immediate steps to release funds to the two States to augment their liquidity position.
“A letter has been received from the Chief Minister of AP seeking central assistance in connection with flood damage. A Central team will be sent to AP as soon as its memorandum is received. Further assistance, if any, beyond the SDRF available to the State will be decided by the Centre after examining the assessment made by the Central Team,” the Centre stated.
According to the note, the framework for financial assistance in the case of natural disasters is based on the recommendations of successive Finance Commissions. Under the present framework, every State has a State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF). 75 per cent of the resources in this fund are provided by the Centre each year in two installments, and the balance of 25 per cent is provided by the State government. If a disaster is of a magnitude which cannot be met from the SDRF, then States may make claims from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). Release of resources from the NDRF for floods is based on an assessment made by the Central government.
