Centre releases Rs 340 crore to Assam for flood relief, repair of damaged infrastructure

Guwahati: Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the Centre has released Rs 340 crore to Assam for handling flood-related issues, including relief, rehabilitation and repair works of damaged infrastructure. [caption id=“attachment_4585371” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] “We held a meeting this morning with officials of the state government. We informed that we have released Rs 340 crore as disaster relief fund,” Singh said at a press conference. Out of this, Rs 101 crore was released by the DoNER, while the remaining Rs 239 crore was given by the home ministry under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) account, he informed. “The SDRF fund would have come little late, but we sent this immediately so that the state has adequate resources in dealing with the situation,” Singh said. He informed that the state government officials have been requested to prepare and submit a detailed memorandum related to damages caused by the first wave of flood across Assam. “We got a premature rainfall this year. So, there is a likelihood that we may get a premature epidemic like situation after the water recedes. Accordingly, I have requested the chief secretary to tell the concerned departments to get prepared for this,” Singh said. On the occasion of four years of the NDA government at the Centre, the minister claimed that North East received a special attention in these years. “The prime minister travelled at least 30 times to North East in the last four years. I do not think even a Union minister had ever done so earlier. He also ensured that a minister travels to North East every fortnight,” he said. “The overall budget for North East is now over 50,000 crore, much more than the earlier times,” Singh said. He also spoke about the Emergency and termed it as the “darkest chapter” of Independent India. “We are observing it to make the young India aware about this so that such things never happen again. It is also to guard the Constitution and anyone trying to take away liberties of people’s life,” he added.