Union home minister Amit Shah has approved Rs 7,274.40 crore as the second instalment of the central government’s share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to 23 states in advance. Union home minister Amit Shah has approved Rs 7,274.40 crore as the second instalment of the central government’s share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to 23 states in advance.

According to a Union home ministry statement, five states have already been released in advance of the second instalment amounting to Rs 1,599.20 crore.

The move is part of the Modi government’s initiative to facilitate state governments to have enough funds in their SDRF to deal with any emergency arising from any disaster.

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The central government had issued an order on 25 September, revising the items and norms of assistance under the SDRF, making a provision for grant of ex-gratia payment to the next of kin of the deceased due to Covid-19.

This enabling provision in the SDRF norms has been made to implement the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on 11 September in compliance with the order passed by the Supreme Court on 30 June.