No delay in flood relief by government, says Kiren Rijiju

New Delhi: The government on Thursday rejected Opposition’s charge that it was biased in its intent in providing rescue teams and relief funds to flood affected states and said that its response has been “quickest ever possible.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a direction that top priority should be given to tackle disasters, be it man-made or natural, the Parliament was informed.

Replying to a calling attention motion in the Rajya Sabha on the situation arising out of recent floods in the country, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said that strict instructions have been issued to NDRF teams that there should be no delay in providing relief because of “human error.”

He informed the House that the paramilitary forces have also been directed to be ready to respond to the situation.

Mr Rijiju also said that states have enough funds to tackle disasters and the Centre only supplements with additional relief amount when it gets exhausted.

As many as 20 states have been hit by floods during the current southwest monsoon season.

On the opposition charges that the Centre was washing its hands off from its responsibility, the minister said, “The primary responsibility to deal with natural calamities rests with states. This is not the question of relieve responsibility.”

He also stated that the Centre cannot take over the district administration and naturally the state has to respond. The minister said that the Centre supplements the efforts of the state governments by providing financial and logistic support to effectively deal with such exigent situations.

Earlier, some opposition members had charged the government with ignoring its responsibilities and mismanagement in dealing with the situation.

On charges of delay in the release of central relief funds, the minister said, “The provision is very clear and simple and it is streamlined. Every state has been given funds and released in every first week of April of the year. That is in the kitty of the state government. That is the advance money.”

The Centre releases the second installment after assessing the nature of the disaster, he said, “It is not easy to assess the total cost of damage at one go. It takes time. There are systems. To say that the systems get very late may not be appropriate.”