2,803 People Die in Hydro-Meteorological Disasters During 2024-25: Govt

New Delhi: Over 2,800 people lost their lives and 3.47 lakh houses were damaged in hydro-meteorological disasters during 2024-25, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of deaths in such natural calamities at 373, followed by Himachal Pradesh at 358 and Gujarat at 230, showed data provided by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in response to a question.

According to the data, 2,803 people died, 3.47 lakh houses were damaged, 58,835 cattle were lost and 10.23 lakh hectare crop area was affected due to the disasters in 2024-25.

Rai said Rs 10,728 crore has been released from the State Disaster Relief Fund in the first instalment while Rs 4,150 crore was released in the second instalment.

From the National Disaster Relief Fund, Rs 4,043 crore was released, he said.

"As per the National Policy on Disaster Management (NPDM), the primary responsibility for disaster management, including disbursal of relief assistance on ground level, rests with the state governments concerned.

"The state governments undertake relief measures in the wake of natural calamities, from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) already placed at their disposal, in accordance with Government of India approved items and norms," the minister said in the reply.

He said the Central government supplements the efforts of the state governments and provides requisite logistics and financial support.

"Additional financial assistance is provided from the 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 an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT),” he said.

The minister said that as on November 27, 2024, a total of 12 IMCTs have been constituted for various states for on-the-spot assessment of damage caused due to natural calamities during 2024.

In response to a separate question seeking to know if the government has conducted an assessment of the damage caused by Karnataka floods, particularly in Haveri and Gadag districts, Rai said no memorandum for seeking additional assistance has been received from the state government on it.

"In order to provide financial support to the affected people, the State Government of Karnataka has been allocated Rs 976.00 crore (Rs 732 crore as central share + Rs 244 crore as state share) for the year 2024-25 under the SDRF, out of which the first instalment of Rs 366.00 crore of central share has been released from SDRF during 2024-25,” he said.

Rai said Rs 3,454.22 crore has also been released from NDRF to Karnataka during 2024-25, for drought relief assistance of 2023.

"As such, sufficient funds are available in their SDRF account for management of notified disasters, including floods," he said.

The minister said the financial assistance provided under SDRF and NDRF is by way of relief and not for compensation.

He said the centre had implemented the Flood Management Programme (FMP) to provide central assistance to states for works related to flood control, anti-erosion, drainage development, anti-sea erosion, etc which subsequently continued as a component of "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme" (FMBAP) for the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21 and was further extended up to 2026 with limited outlay.

"As a non-structural measure, Central Water Commission (CWC) has established a flood forecasting network across the country including Karnataka and issues flood forecasts at 340 stations,” Rai said.

He said the Urban Flood Risk Management Programme for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palika (BBMP) under the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) with a financial outlay of Rs 275.00 crore, including Rs 238.72 crore of central share, has been approved for urban flood management in Bengaluru.

The centre has also allocated Rs 1,164.80 crore for Karnataka under SDMF for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 under which the state government can undertake mitigation activities, he said.

In response to a question about flood relief in Tripura, Rai said an IMCT was constituted on August 27 by the Centre to assess the damage without waiting for a memorandum from the state government which visited the state during August 28-30.

"As per the IMCT report, loss of 36 human lives, 3,584 cattle, damage to 34,773 houses and damage to 0.59 lac hectare cropped area have been reported due to flood in Tripura during 2024,” he said.

The state government sought an additional financial assistance of Rs 7080.55 crore under NDRF in its memorandum submitted on September 13 which is under consideration as per established procedure, he said.

Rs 70.40 crore (Rs 63.20 crore central share plus Rs 7.20 crore state share) has been allocated in SDRF to Tripura for 2024-25 in SDRF with the entire centre's share already released in advance, he said.

He said Tripura reported Rs 227.92 crore as balance in their SDRF account, as of March 31, 2024.

"Besides, the Central government has released Rs 8.40 crore as advance from allocation of 2025-26 under SDRF and an amount of Rs 25.00 crore from NDRF as advance 'on an account basis' to Tripura for providing relief to the affected people," Rai said.

He said sufficient funds of Rs 331.72 crore is available in the SDRF account of the state for the relief operations. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed.)