A government press release said that a number of steps have been taken to prevent any extensive loss to life and property during disasters by strengthening the disaster risk reduction system in the country.
Union home minister Amit Shah, chaired a meeting of the high-level committee (HLC) on Thursday in New Delhi, approving a comprehensive array of disaster mitigation and capacity building projects aimed at enhancing India’s resilience against natural calamities.
The committee, which includes the finance minister, agriculture minister, and vice chairman of NITI Aayog, deliberated on nine proposals from the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to combat urban flooding in six cities; to mitigate glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in four hill states and to strengthen fire services in three states. The committee also considered a proposal to implement Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme in all 28 states of the country.
A government press release said that a number of steps have been taken to prevent any extensive loss to life and property during disasters by strengthening India’s disaster risk reduction system.
In today’s meeting, the high-level committee approved six project proposals in the states of Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal and Maharashtra at a total cost of Rs. 2,514.36 crores for urban flood management in six metro cities – namely Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune. Earlier, in November 2023, the HLC had approved the project proposal for integrated solutions for flood management for the state of Tamil Nadu in Chennai city at a cost of Rs. 561.29 crores.
GLOF risk mitigation
The HLC also approved three project proposals under the scheme for “Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services in the states” for the Assam, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu of a total outlay of Rs. 810.64 crores. The union government has allocated a total amount of Rs. 5,000 crores under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for this scheme, and had already approved the proposals of 11 states at a total outlay of Rs. 1691.43 crores.
In addition, the HLC also approved a project proposal for GLOF risk mitigation for the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh at a total outlay of Rs. 150 crore. The GLOF Risk Mitigation Project will provide necessary impetus to these four states in taking necessary mitigation measures to address GLOF risks.
The HLC also approved a proposal of Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme at an outlay of Rs. 470.50 crores from NDRF, which will be implemented in 315 most disaster-prone districts of the country for training of 1,300 trained Aapda Mitra volunteers as master trainers and 2.37 lakh volunteers exclusively from NCC, NSS, NYKS and the Bharat Scouts and Guides in disaster preparedness and response.
The ministry’s press release said that this was in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of preparing the community as first responders during any disaster. Earlier, the “Aapda Mitra”, scheme has resulted in the training of around one lakh community volunteers. These volunteers have been trained for disaster response in 350 most disaster-prone districts of the country. These skilled and trained ‘Apda Mitras’ and ‘Apda Sakhis’ are playing an important role in assisting the local administration in responding to any disaster, the ministry said in its press release.
During the current financial year, union government has released Rs 6348 crores to 14 states under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and Rs. 672 crores to six states under the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF). In addition, an amount of Rs. 4,265 crores has been released to 10 states under National Disaster Response Fund.
