PM announces package of Rs 2,350 cr for floods in NE

Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced a total package of Rs 2,350 crore for all north eastern states for mitigating the impact of floods in short and long term basis.

Modi is on a day-long visit to Guwahati where he will meet the chief ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland and with respective Cabinets to take stock of the latest flood situation.

“The prime minister today announced Rs 2,350 crore total flood package for the north eastern states,” Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters here.

Giving a breakup, Sarma said, “The prime minister has announced a special package of Rs 2,000 crore for all the north eastern states for relief and rehabilitation of flood damage.” 

The exact share of different states will be worked out in coming days and will be announced accordingly, he added.

In addition to that, the Prime Minister has announced a Rs 100 crore corpus for setting up a research project to study the Brahmaputra and its role in creating devastating flood, Sarma said.

“This project will have a high power committee comprising scientists, researchers, engineers. They will study the river and suggest remedies to tackle floods. This will be long term project,” he added.

Regarding Assam, the state finance minister said the prime minister announced release of Rs 250 crore immediately to carry out relief and rehabilitation.

“The prime minister had released Rs 300 crore in June.

The Rs 250 crore announced today was in addition to the amount released in June,” Sarma said.