Odisha Govt. Declares Eight State –Specific Disasters To Be Covered Under Relief Code
02 June, Bhubaneswar
Odisha Government Tuesday declared eight disasters — lightning, heat wave, whirlwind, tornado, heavy rain, boat accident, drowning and snakebite (other than during flood) as state specific disasters.
The declaration was made after it was approved by the State Executive Committee in its meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary on April 22.
Official sources here said people affected by these disasters with the exception of heat wave will now get same relief assistance as prescribed for 12 other disasters approved by the central government under the State Disaster Response Fund and National Disaster Response Fund.
Such relief assistance includes ex-gratia to the next of kin in case of death, assistance in case of permanent incapacitation or injury, food assistance, assistance for clothing and utensils, assistance for replacement of milch and drought animals lost and house building assistance.
The ex-gratia assistance for death due to sunstroke will be Rs 50,000 per deceased person. The State Government had been constantly pursuing the matter with the union government since long for declaration of ‘lightning’ and ‘heat wave’ as disasters for funding of relief expenditure for the disasters from the State Disaster Response Fund.
As many as 1630 people died due to lightning in Odisha during last five years (2010-15). Similarly, 265 persons died due to sunstroke and 96 due to boat accident during the period.
In its Memorandum submitted to the 14th Finance Commission, the State Government had made specific request for inclusion of tornado, thunder squall, heavy rain, drowning of boats, whirl wind, gale wind, tidal disaster, lightning, heat wave,in the list of disasters enabling the State incur expenditure from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) on relief and restoration measures arising out of the calamities. This claim was also strongly placed before the Commission during its visit to the state on December 7, 2013.
The 14th Finance Commission accepted the claims and recommended that up to 10 per cent of the funds available under the SDRF can be used by the State Governments for natural disasters that they consider to be ‘disasters’ within the local context in the State and which are not included in the notified list of disasters of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Union government had accepted the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission and made provisions under the Revised Items and Norms of Assistance from SDRF and NDRF for the period 2015-2020.
The Centre had allowed the expenditure by the States on state specific disasters within 10 per cent of the annual fund allocation of the SDRF subject to the condition that the state formally listed such disasters and notified transparent norms and guidelines with approval of State Executive Committee