NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has approved the release of the second instalment of the Central share of the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) amounting to Rs 7,274.40 crore in advance to 23 states, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed on Friday. 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 due to Covid-19 and for providing relief on other notified calamities. The Central government on September 25 had issued an order revising the items and norms of assistance under the SDRF, making therein a provision for grant of ex-gratia payment to the next of kin of the deceased due to Covid-19. This enabling provision in SDRF norms has been made so as to implement the guidelines issued by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on September 11 in compliance with the order passed by Supreme Court dated June 30. This step of the Centre government will facilitate state governments to have enough funds in their SDRF.
