New Delhi, Feb 20: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 249.68 crore and Rs 33.21 crore as drought relief for the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra respectively from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF). A high-level committee for sanctioning the assistance from NCCF met here today under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and discussed the drought assistance required by these states.

The assistance of Rs 249.68 crore to Karnataka is for the period from February 2004 to June 2004 which includes Rs 20 crore for supplementary nutrition in the form of food grains. An allocation of 4.13 lakh tonnes of food grains was also approved for the same period in suitable instalments to meet the food component of wages in relief employment.

Earlier, the state was sanctioned Rs 115.86 crore and 3.30 lakh mts of food grains worth Rs 330 crore for the current drought.

The sanction of Rs 33.21 crore to Maharashtra is as a special case to meet the additional burden of drought relief employment under the employment guarantee scheme in 71 drought affected taluks of the state as a one-time measure. This is in addition to Rs 44.25 crore and 4 lakh mts of food grains worth Rs 400 crore sanctioned earlier for the purpose. The committee also approved enhanced coverage from 50 per cent to 75 per cent rural below poverty line (BPL) households for allocation of food grains for relief employment and from 25 per cent to 37.5 per cent for financial assistance for the purpose as a one-time measure for the states currently affected by drought.

Bureau Report