New Delhi: A total of 80 districts across
India have been "adversely affected" by recent floods, the Government said on Wednesday.
These districts include 14 in Andhra Pradesh, 10 each in Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala, 15 in Assam, five in Bihar, one each in Goa, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and
Pudducherry, five in Haryana, and eight each in Mizoram and Punjab, Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal informed
the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
He said while the state governments are "primarily
responsible" for undertaking relief measures at the ground
level, the Centre supplements the efforts of the states by
providing logistic and financial support.
The Minister said flood management is a state subject
and the schemes related to it are executed by the state
governments.
"However, a plan scheme -- Flood Management Programme
-- has been approved in principle by the Central government at
a total cost of Rs 8000 crore during the XIth Five Year Plan
to provide central assistance to the state governments to
undertake flood management and anti-erosion work," he said.
Besides assistance under the Flood Management Programme, Bihar, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have
been provided a total of Rs 183.66 crore grants-in-aid for taking up flood protection works on border rivers under the central `River management Activities and works related to
Border Areas` during the XIth Five Year Plan.
These states share international borders with Nepal
and Bangladesh.
PTI
