Lok Sabha Question No. 71 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-18
Subject: Financial Assistance to North East to deal with Annual Floods
Ministry: DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION
Asked by: Abhishek Banerjee

## Government of India Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 71

To be answered on Monday, July 18,2022/Ashadha 27,1944 (Saka)

## QUESTION Financial Assistance to North East to deal with Annual Floods.

## 71. SHRI ABHISHEK BANERJEE:

Will the Minister of DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  financial  contribution  of  the  Government  towards  the  States  of  the North East for works to prepare for the annual floods, State-wise;
- (b) whether  any  study has  been  conducted  to  ascertain  the  measures  required  to prepare the States for annual flooding, and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  infrastructural  steps  to  prepare  for flooding such as high rise shelter, and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the measures taken/being taken by the Government to compensate people who have lost their family members, been injured, or lost property in the floods?

## ANSWER

## The Minister of the Ministry of  Development of North Eastern Region [Shri G. Kishan Reddy]

- a) Flood management primarily comes under the purview of the State Governments, and the schemes for flood control are formulated and implemented by concerned States as per their priorities. The Union Government supplements the efforts of the States including the States of North Eastern Region (NER) by providing technical

guidance  and  promotional  financial  assistance  for  management  of  floods  in  critical areas. The central assistance released to the States of NER  under 'Flood Management Program  (FMP)'  component  of  Flood  Management  and  Border  Areas  Programme (FMBAP)  since inception of FMP in the XI Plan is as follows:

|   Sl.No. | States of NER     |   Amount (Rs.in crores) |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------------|
|        1 | Arunachal Pradesh |                  190.78 |
|        2 | Assam             |                 1300.47 |
|        3 | Manipur           |                  143.08 |
|        4 | Meghalaya         |                    3.81 |
|        5 | Mizoram           |                   16.89 |
|        6 | Nagaland          |                   93.96 |
|        7 | Sikkim            |                   91.84 |
|        8 | Tripura           |                   23.62 |

- b) There  are  well  established  institutional  mechanisms  at  the  National,  State  & District levels in the country for appropriate preparedness and taking prompt response measures  for  effective  management  of  natural  disasters  including  heavy  rains  and floods.  National  Disaster  Management  Authority  (NDMA)  has  undertaken  various tasks/initiatives  including  laying  down  policy  and  various  guidelines  on  cross  cutting issues  on  disaster  management.  Central  Government  has  established  a  robust  early warning  system  and  has  significantly  enhanced  the  accuracy  of  weather  forecasts. Forecasting agencies are continuing their efforts for the improvement of  warning and dissemination systems vigorously. Mock exercises and community awareness programmes are being regularly conducted to educate people to reduce/ minimize the losses during/ impending natural disasters in the country. The measures taken by the Central  and  State  governments  have  significantly  improved  disaster  management practices,  preparedness,  prevention  and  response  mechanism  resulting  in  significant reduction in casualties during natural calamities, in the country including the states of NER. Further, strengthening of the disaster management is a continuing and evolving process of the governance.

c) The steps taken by the Government to prepare for natural disaster such as flood etc. in the country including  NER  include creation of shelters  and training of communities,  conducting  mock  drills  and  workshops  for  effectively  responding  to disasters,  carrying out  capacity  building  of  disaster professionals and  communities by NDMA, NDRF and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM). Also, the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC), an institution established under the joint initiative of Department of Space and North Eastern Council (NEC) uses satellite data on developing early warning system on natural calamities like floods.

d) The  responsibility for  disaster  management  primarily  rests  with  the  State Government concerned. The State Governments undertake relief measures in the wake of  natural  disasters  form  the  State  Disaster  Response  Fund  (SDRF),  placed  at  their disposal,  in  accordance  with  Government  of  India's  approved  items  and  norms. Additional  financial  assistance  is  provided  from  National  Disaster  Response  Fund (NDRF),  as  per  laid  down  procedure  in  case  of  disaster  of  'severe  nature',  which includes an assessment based on the visit of Inter-Ministerial Team.  Ministry of DoNER also consults State Governments on important issues including floods and coordinates with central line Ministries to facilitate timely action.

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