The High level Committee (HlC) for Central Assistance to Uttarakhand and Karnataka approved financial assistance amounting to Rs 208.91 crore. Ahead of the Vidhan Sabha elections slated in 2017, the approval for this central financial assistance comes at a time when the Congress-led State Government under chief minister Harish Rawat is repeatedly raising the various issues resulting from cuts in central financial assistance. According to information provided by the Press Information Bureau, the financial approval was granted in a meeting of the HlC chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the national capital on Thursday for Central Assistance to Uttarakhand and Karnataka.
The committee examined the proposal based on the reports of the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) which visited the states of Uttarakhand and Karnataka affected by flood and drought respectively. The HlC approved the assistance of Rs 188.91 crore under the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) and Rs 20 crore under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) totalling to Rs. 208.91 crore. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and senior officers of the Ministries of Home Affairs, Finance and Agriculture were among those who attended the meeting.