Question mark on Centre's objective on calamity grants
Kolkata: State Disaster Management minister Javed Khan on Monday questioned the intention of the Central government regarding allocation of funds for the damages caused by natural calamities.
Responding to a query at the state Assembly on the losses incurred by the state due to the cyclonic storm Fani that had hit the state in the first week of May, Khan said the Centre had not sent any delegation to the state as yet .
"They neither sent any team to talk to the state for having an idea of the extent of loss caused by Fani," Khan said.
He added that when there was flood like situation in the state in 2017 his department had sent an estimate of Rs 23,000 crore but the Centre dispatched only Rs 1100 crore.
"They always discriminate. As many as 20 districts in the state was affected in 2017," Khan said.
He reiterated that the state government will soon sent estimates seeking funds from the Centre against the damages caused by Fani. The state has already spent Rs 14.09 crore for the destruction caused by the cyclone.
He presented before the state Assembly that 14 districts in the state has been affected due to Fani which includes Hooghly, East Burdwan, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Birbhum, Howrah, Bankura, Jhargram, West Burdwan, Nadia, West Midnapore, East Midnapore, Purulia, Murshidabad and parts of Kolkata.
"There has been no loss of human life with the state government taking preventive measures in connection with disaster management like setting up relief camps, evacuating people from the coastlines, deploying disaster management teams and several other measures. Altogether 6,383224 people have been affected and 29260 houses have been damaged. The number of municipalities and blocks that have been affected are 54 and 231, respectively," Khan said. It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had stayed at Kharagpur in West Midnapore where Fani was destined to have the maximum effect in the state and monitored the situation.
