Rs 2,550 crore central grant to drought-hit UP, Andhra, Odisha

The Centre on Wednesday approved grant of about Rs 2,550 crore to drought-affected states of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

The decision was taken during a meeting of a High Level Committee chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh here.

The Committee examined the proposals based on the report of the central team which visited the affected states by severe drought.

The HLC approved the assistance of Rs 2,553.29 crore from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). Andhra Pradesh to get Rs 433.77 crore, Rs 815 crore for Odisha and Rs 1304.52 crore for Uttar Pradesh, a press release issued by Home Ministry said.

"The HLC has deferred the decision in case of Telangana to the next week," it said.

Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Radha Mohan Singh, Vice-Chairman NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and senior officers of Home, Finance and Agriculture ministries attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, a grant of Rs 1,000 crore was approved by the Union Home Ministry for 35 worst Naxal-affected districts spread across seven states to carry out development work and augmenting facilities to fight the Maoists. 

The affected areas include 16 districts in Jharkhand, eight in Chhattisgarh, six in Bihar, two in Odisha and one each in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.