Cyclone affected West Bengal, Odisha and Maharashtra will get central assistance of over ₹2,700 crore. Three other States have also got central assistance for natural calamity.

“High Level Committee under Chairmanship of Union Home Minister approves ₹4,381.88 crore of additional Central assistance to six States,” a Government statement issued on Thursday said. West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Sikkim to get funds for cyclones ‘Amphan’, and ‘Nisarga’, floods and landslides that occurred during 2020.

For cyclone ‘Amphan’, ₹2,707.77 crore has been approved for West Bengal and ₹128.23 crore for Odisha. For cyclone ‘Nisarga’ ₹268.59 crore has been approved for Maharashtra. For floods and landslides during the South-West monsoon, ₹577.84 crore has been approved for Karnataka, ₹611.61 crore for Madhya Pradesh, and ₹87.84 crore for Sikkim.

In the aftermath of cyclone ‘Amphan’, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the affected States of West Bengal and Odisha on May 22. As announced by the Prime Minister, financial assistance of ₹1,000 crore to West Bengal and ₹500 crore to Odisha were released, in advance, on May 23 for immediate relief activities in these States.

In addition, the Prime Minister had also announced ₹2 lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of the dead and ₹50,000 for the injured, which was over and above the ex-gratia provided through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the NDRF.

In all the six States, the Central Government had deputed Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) immediately after the calamities, without waiting for the receipt of Memorandum from the affected State Governments. In addition, during the financial year 2020-21, till date, the Central Government has released ₹15,524.43 crore to 28 States from the SDRF.

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