Guidelines relaxed to provide funds to States immediately in view of heavy rains and associated natural disasters

The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has today released an amount of Rs. 7,532 crore to 22 State Governments for the respective State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF). The amount has been released as per the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs.  State-wise details of the amount released are as under:

 (Rs in crore)

S.No.	State	Amount
1	Andhra Pradesh	493.60
2	Arunachal Pradesh	110.40
3	Assam	340.40
4	Bihar	624.40
5	Chhattishgarh	181.60
6	Goa	4.80
7	Gujarat	584.00
8	Haryana	216.80
9	Himachal Pradesh	180.40
10	Karnataka	348.80
11	Kerala	138.80
12	Maharashtra	1420.80
13	Manipur	18.80
14	Meghalaya	27.20
15	Mizoram	20.80
16	Odisha	707.60
17	Punjab	218.40
18	Tamil Nadu	450.00
19	Telangana	188.80
20	Tripura	30.40
21	Uttar Pradesh	812.00
22	Uttrakhand	413.20

In the wake of heavy rains across the country, the guidelines have been relaxed and the amount has been released as immediate assistance to States without waiting for the utilisation certificate of the amount provided to the States in the last financial year. 

The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) has been constituted in each State under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The fund is the primary fund available with State Governments for responses to notified disasters. The Central Government contributes 75% to the SDRF in general States and 90% in North-East and Himalayan States.    

The annual Central contribution is released in two equal instalments as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission.  As per the guidelines, the funds are released on receipt of Utilisation Certificate of the amount released in the earlier instalment and receipt of a report from the State Government on the activities undertaken from SDRF.  However, in view of the urgency, these requirements were waived while releasing the funds this time. 

The SDRF is to be used only for meeting the expenditure for providing immediate relief to the victims of notified calamities like cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloud burst, pest attack and frost & cold wave.

Allocation of SDRF funds to the States is based on multiple factors like past expenditure, area, population, and disaster risk index.  These factors reflect States' institutional capacity, risk exposure, and hazard and vulnerability.

Based on the 15^th Finance Commission recommendations, the Central Government has allocated Rs. 1,28,122.40 crore for SDRF for years 2021-22 to 2025-26.  Out of this amount, the Central Government’s share is Rs.98,080.80 crore.  The Central Government had already released Rs. 34,140.00 crore before the current release. With the current release, the total amount of Central share of SDRF released to the State Governments so far has gone up to Rs. 42,366 crore.   

State Disaster Response Fund release expedited by guideline relaxation to provide immediate relief to affected states. The Central Government released funds to State Disaster Response Funds of 22 States as immediate assistance after relaxing guidelines and waiving the usual requirement for utilisation certificates and activity reports; SDRF, constituted under Section 48(1)(a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, is the primary State fund for immediate relief for notified calamities, with central contributions and instalment releases governed by Finance Commission recommendations and allocation based on past expenditure, area, population and disaster risk index.