Kishan nails TRS' lies on Central funds under NDRF

Hyderabad: Alleging that the TRS leaders were uttering lies in the media about the Centre not giving funds under the National Disaster Relief Funds (NDRF), Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy on Wednesday said the Union government gave Rs 3,000 crore to the State during the last eight years and Rs 1,500 crore since 2018.

Reddy said during calamities the State government has the responsibility to respond immediately and take up relief work. The State governments takes up relief work by taking funds from the SDRF (State Disaster Relief Fund) as per the rules of the Government of India.

In case of severe disasters, the Centre sends teams to prepare estimates and releases additional funds under the NDRF. According to Section 48 (1) (a) of the NDRF Act, 2005, SDRF funds are the primary funds which the States can use for taking up relief work during calamities.

Since Telangana is under the general category States and Union Territories, the Centre provides 75 per cent funds to SDRF. The NDRF has been formed as per Section 46 of the Act, which can be given when damages are severe and if there are no funds with the SDRF. The relief work, restoration work will not come under the NDRF, said Reddy.

The Union minister said as per rules, the State government has to give details such as losses in each department and the funds needed to the Centre. The Centre then sends teams to the State to analyse damage. "When there were floods in Hyderabad in 2020-21, Rs 1,599 crore were allocated to TSSDRF and the Centre's share was Rs 499 crore. The funds were given to the State SDRF with Rs 224.5 crore in two instalments. The SDRF has over Rs 1,500 crore fund and the Centre's share is Rs 1,200 crore. The funds are enough to provide assistance to the affected people because of floods in Hyderabad. The funds will also be sufficient to provide assistance to all tenant farmers who suffered losses," said Reddy.

He said the release of SDRF funds allocated to the States for the current year depends on the State governments providing documents and annual reports regarding the funds spent in the previous year in the respective States. For the financial year 2022-23, an amount of Rs 377.60 crore has been allocated to SDRF of Telangana under the Central government share funds. The release of the funds is dependent on the State government providing the documents and annual reports related to the funds spent in the previous year.

"The TRS leaders are saying that the Central government is discriminating against Telangana and that is why the NDRF funds are not released to the State since 2018. In 2017, the BJP came to power in Uttarakhand, which is constantly plagued by floods. However, funds were not released from NDRF since 2017 because there are specific guidelines to release funds from NDRF, I request you to refrain from spreading lies on the Central government," said Reddy. The Union Home ministry has already expressed its full readiness to provide necessary assistance in the current Godavari floods, he added.