The State Government on Thursday decided to increase the Contingency Fund (OCF) corpus from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,900 crore to meet the funds requirement for relief and restoration works in the Phailin and flood-hit areas.
A Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave the nod to the proposal by the Finance Department for amendment to the Odisha Contingency Fund Act 18 of 1967 to increase the fund. Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya said the decision was taken as the State Disaster Relief Fund has already been exhausted due to non-release of share from the National Disaster Response Fund by the Centre to carry out the relief and restoration works.
Since the Act needs immediate amendment, the Cabinet agreed to issue an Ordinance. “Since the Assembly is not in session now, the OCF corpus is to be enhanced by an Ordinance,” he said. The OCF corpus was earlier enhanced from Rs 150 crore to Rs 400 crore through the Odisha Contingency Fund Amendment Act, 2008 (Odisha Act 1 of 2009).
Various departments have estimated an amount of Rs 1,111.37 crore required immediately over and above the expenditures already incurred for relief and restoration works, which is around Rs 638 crore, Acharya said.