New Delhi, 13 March 2013

Last week we published this article on DeshGujarat:It’s official: Centre gives Rs 778.09 crore for drought relief to Maharashtra, but not a single pie to Gujarat .There’s fresh development in this regard, and the central government has today given approval to Rs 864.71 crore drought aid for Gujarat.

The central government today approved Rs 864.71 crore to Gujarat from National Disaster Resposne Fund(NDRF). This announcement was made by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar along with the announcements for other states including Maharashra and Kerala.

Inter-Ministeraial Teams(IMCTs) had visited Gujarat to asses loss/damage to Kharif crops last year and had proposed Rs 864.71 crore for the state.

In second week of January this year, the high-level committee led by Maharashtra politician and Union minister Sharad Pawar for central assistance to states affected by natural calamity approved assistance of Rs 526.06 crore to Karnataka and Rs 778.09 crore to Maharashtra.

The committee met again today and approved fresh aid of over Rs 1200 crore for Maharashtra. Pending approvals of other states including Gujarat were also cleared today.