By Union Home Minister

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A high-level committee headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday approved a number mitigation, recovery and reconstruction projects for nine states having a total outlay of Rs 4645.60 crore, officials said.The projects will benefit Assam, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.To realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a disaster-resilient India, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is providing all necessary support to the states and Union Territories, an official statement said.The committee, comprising Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the NITI Aayog vice-chairman as members, considered the proposal for financial assistance to states from the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF).The committee approved a plan for the restoration and rejuvenation of wetlands for Assam worth Rs 692.05 crore, the statement said.Live EventsThe implementation of this project will enhance wetland capacity, create flood storage, increase flood resilience, protect the aquatic environment and help economic growth through an improved fisheries infrastructure.Out of a total approved outlay of Rs 692.05 crore for the project, the Central share will be Rs 519.04 crore (75 per cent) and the state share will be Rs 173.01 crore (25 per cent).It includes projects for mitigation activities towards restoration and rejuvenation of 24 distinct wetlands in nine districts of Assam spread across the Brahmaputra river system, the statement said.Through a number of structural and other measures, the project in Assam will enhance the water retention capacity of wetlands/Beels and help mitigate the risk of flooding and erosion, the statement said.The approval is in line with the home minister’s vision for the development of wetlands for conservation and flood mitigation in Assam.The project’s long-term coverage is aimed at the entire length of Brahmaputra within Assam, and therefore this project would be taken up as a pilot scheme to establish a flood-proof Brahmaputra valley.The committee also approved the Urban Flood Risk Management Programme (UFRMP) Phase-2 for 11 cities — Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kanpur, Patna, Raipur, Trivandrum, Vishakhapatnam, Indore and Lucknow — with a total financial outlay of Rs 2444.42 crore to be funded from the NDMF, the statement said.The 11 cities were selected on the basis of their status of being the most populous cities/state capitals, primarily prone to floods, as well as consideration of other physical, environmental, socio-economic and hydro-meteorological factors, the statement said.The programme will complement the states in mitigating the risk of urban flooding in the cities through uniform structural and non-structural intervention measures.The funding pattern will be on cost-sharing basis between the Centre and the states according to the NDMF guidelines, i.e., 90 per cent from the Centre and 10 per cent from the states.Additionally, out of the aforesaid 11 cities, the committee approved a programme designed for flood mitigation projects in Guwahati with a total outlay of Rs 200 crore, of which Rs 180 crore will be the Central share from the NDMF.The activities involved for the flood risk mitigation project for Guwahati ranges from structural measures of interlinking of water bodies to stormwater management, construction of flood protection wall, erosion control and soil stabilisation using nature-based solutions (NBS), etc., as well as non-structural measures such as flood early warning system, data acquisition system and capacity building, etc.Earlier, the Central government approved urban flood risk management programmes with an outlay of Rs 3075.65 crore for seven Metro cities — Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune.The Centre had also approved a number of mitigation projects for mitigating the risks of a number of hazards in the areas of landslides (Rs 1,000 crore), glacial lake outburst flood (Rs 150 crore), forest fire (Rs 818.92 crore), lightning (Rs 186.78 crore) and drought (Rs 2,022.16 crore).The committee also approved financial assistance of Rs 1270.788 crore for Assam and Rs 260.56 crore for Kerala for recovery and reconstruction activities/plans in the aftermath of the flood/landslide incidents of 2022 and the Wayanad landslide of 2024, respectively, the statement said.These recovery assistance programmes will help Assam and Kerala carry out recovery and reconstruction activities, triggered by the damage and destruction that occurred during the floods/landslides in 2022 and the Wayanad landslide in 2024, respectively.Earlier, the Centre approved recovery and reconstruction plans for Uttarakhand for Rs 1,658.17 crore in the aftermath of the Joshimath land subsistence, for Sikkim worth Rs 555.27 crore in the aftermath of the glacial lake outburst flood incident of 2023, and for Himachal Pradesh worth Rs 2,006.40 crore in the aftermath of the floods, landslides, and cloudburst incidents of 2023.The additional assistance is over and above the funds released by the Centre to the states under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), which have already been placed at the disposal of the states.During the 2025-26 financial year, the Centre has released Rs 13,578.80 crore to 27 states under SDRF and Rs 2,024.04 crore to 12 states under NDRF, the statement said.In addition, the home minister has approved advance release of Rs 24.40 crore as second instalment of Central share of SDRF to Sikkim for the year 2025-26.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!
Additionally, the Centre has released Rs 4,412.50 crore from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to 21 states and Rs 372.09 crore from the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to nine states, the statement said.(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)

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