New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah of Friday approved the release by Central Government of the second installment of Central Share of State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF), which will enable state governments to have enough funds in their SDRF to meet the expenses of granting ex-gratia to the next of kin of people who died due to COVID-19.
‘Government of India had issued an order on 25.09.2021, revising the items and norms of assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), making therein a provision for grant of ex-gratia payment to the next of kin of the deceased from Covid-19,” an official statement said on Friday.
The statement said the “enabling provision” in SDRF norms has been made to implement the guidelines
issued by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on 11.09.2021 in compliance with the order passed by the Supreme Court on June 30, 2021.
The Union Home Minister has approved release of the second instalment of the Central share of the
SDRF amounting to Rs 7,274.40 crore in advance to 23 states. Five states have already been given in advance the second instalment amounting to Rs 1,599.20 crore.
The state governments will now have an amount of Rs 23,186.40 crore in their SDRF including the
state’s share, during the financial year 2021-22, in addition to the amount of opening balance available in their SDRF, to meet the expenses for granting ex-gratia to the next of kin of the deceased from COVID-19 and for providing relief on other notified calamities, the statement said.
