Bhubaneswar: The Central government has approved more than Rs 725 crore for expansion and modernisation of Fire services in three states including Odisha.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in a statement on Monday, said a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah has approved three projects of Rs 725.62 crore under “expansion and modernisation” of fire services in three states.
Besides Odisha, the projects have been approved for Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. The committee has approved Rs 201.10 crore for Odisha, Rs 147.76 crore for Chhattisgarh and Rs 376.76 crore for West Bengal.
“The move is part of a number of steps taken by the MHA to prevent any extensive loss to life and property during disasters by strengthening the disaster risk reduction system in India. The Centre has allocated total Rs 5,000 crore under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for expansion and modernisation of fire services in the states,” read the statement.
The committee has already approved the proposals of 15 states with a total outlay of Rs 2,542.12 crore. The high-level committee includes the Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog as members.
More than Rs 21,026 crore has already been released to the states during this year. This includes Rs 14,878.40 crore from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to 26 states, Rs 4,637.66 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to 15 states, Rs 1,385.45 crore from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to 11 states and Rs 124.93 crore from the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to three states.