Govt allocates Rs 507.37 crore for disaster risk reduction at village level

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) In order to bolster disaster risk reduction at the village level, a High-Level Committee (HLC) under Union Home Minister Amit Shah's chairmanship approved Rs 507.37 crore on Tuesday for a national project directed at preparing villages against natural calamities.

"The Modi government launched the National Disaster Mitigation Fund in 2021 to armour the society to withstand any disaster, and today the initiative was extended to the Panchayat level," Shah said in a post on X.

In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the committee has approved funds for the National Project for Strengthening Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions for 20 states.

The initiative is in collaboration with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), it said.

The project aims at integrating Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) practices into governance structure through a bottom-up approach to disaster management, the MHA said.

The programme will cover 81 disaster-prone districts of the 20 states and additionally, develop 20 gram panchayats focussed on major hazards as replicable models for local DRR, complementing the efforts of the panchayati raj ministry as well as the states in empowerment initiatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) to reduce disaster risk.

"Out of the total approved project outlay of Rs 507.37 crore, Rs 273.38 crore will be central share under NDMF with states contributing commensurate shares of Rs 30.37 crore. Additionally, Rs 151.47 crore will be met from Panchayati Raj Ministry with commensurate state share of Rs 52.15 crore," the statement said.

The additional assistance will be over and above the funds released by the Centre to the states in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

"During the financial year 2025-26, the central government has released Rs 16,118.00 crore to 28 states under SDRF and Rs 2,854.18 crore to 18 states under NDRF," the statement isued by the MHA said.

The ministry said in addition, the Centre has released Rs 5,273.6 crore from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to 21 states and Rs 1,423.06 crore from the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to 14 states.

The project will strengthen institutions, integrate policies in DRR development planning by PRIs, and help in capacity building and awareness generation for SDMAs, DDMAs and PRI members, it said. PTI ABS RC