Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday approved the release of Rs 488 crore as a central share of the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Goa for the year 2021–22, for undertaking mitigation activities as per guidelines issued by the central government.
Based on the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, the Central Government has allocated Rs 32,031 crore for the SDMF and Rs 13,693 crore for the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) for the years 2021–22 to 2025–26. These mitigation funds will be used to carry out mitigation activities involving local and community-based interventions that will reduce disaster risks and promote environmentally friendly settlements and livelihood practices.
Shah has always emphasised that before the 1990s, the Government of India had a relief-centric approach. There was no scope for saving lives and property, and it was not part of the planning process.
Now as per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah said, “We have worked out a scientific programme for saving lives and property based on early warning, proactive prevention, mitigation, and pre-preparation.”
The Central Government constituted the NDMF at the national level on February 5, 2021. State governments have been advised to set up SDMFs in their respective states.
Guidelines for the operationalization of SDMF and NDMF have already been issued by the Central Government.
The Central government has already released an amount of Rs 3,382.24 crore as the Central share of the SDMF to 21 states after they constituted their SDMF.
