The recent floods and landslides in Jammu and Kashmir claimed 282 lives and damaged 2.53 lakh houses, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that according to information received from the state government, 282 people have died, 6.48 lakh hectare of crop area affected and 2.53 lakh houses have been reported damaged due to the floods, adding 61,326 cattle were also killed.
In reply to a written question, he also said that the state government is initially required to undertake relief operations in the wake of natural calamity from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
In case of a calamity of 'severe nature', additional assistance is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) after following the laid down procedure.
Financial assistance is towards relief and not for compensation of loss as suffered, he said.
Replying to another question, Rijiju said in order to supplement the efforts of the Jammu and Kashmir government, the Centre has released Rs 1,000 crore under Special Plan Assistance (SPA) on October 22 to the state government.
In addition, an amount of Rs 570 crore for rebuilding of damaged houses and Rs 175 crore for damaged hospitals have been announced from the Prime Minster's National Relief Fund.
Besides, an amount of Rs 94.33 crore was released in advance from SDRF, he said.
