Covid-19 fight: Govt has Rs 60k crore war chest in disaster funds

NEW DELHI: The Centre has a war chest of more than Rs 60,000 crore to fight the Covid-19 pandemic — Rs 30,000 crore is already available in state disaster relief funds (SDRF) while allocation of a similar amount has been made for the 2020-21 financial year towards disaster relief and mitigation. This is in addition to contributions received in the PM’s relief fund.

According to sources, the balance in SDRF of states is Rs 30,000 crore as on March 30. The kitty is made out of funds allocated every year to states to meet expenditure on relief and rehabilitation. Since the funds under SDRF and the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) are non-lapsable, they get added to the kitty.

Since 2016-17, the government has allocated over Rs 80,000 crore for disaster relief and rehabilitation — Rs 50,000 crore towards SDRFs and Rs 30,285 from the NDRF. The home ministry, in an order issued on March 14, had classified Covid-19 as a notifie