A high-level committee, chaired by Union Home Minister and Minister of Co-operation Amit Shah, has approved three projects worth ₹725.62 crore for the expansion and modernisation of fire services in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal to make these States disaster-resilient.

Of the total, the Committee has approved ₹147.76 crore for Chhattisgarh, ₹201.10 crore for Odisha and ₹376.76 crore for West Bengal, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. The committee is comprised of the Union Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog as members.

The MHA stated that to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a disaster-resilient India, the Ministry has taken several initiatives to ensure the effective management of natural calamities in the country.

The central government has allocated a total of ₹ 5,000 crore under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for “Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services in the States”. According to the MHA, proposals from 15 States at a total outlay of ₹2,542.12 crore had already been approved.

Overall, more than ₹21,026 crore has already been released to the states during this year, the MHA informed. This includes ₹14,878.40 crore from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to 26 States, ₹4,637.66 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to 15 States, ₹1,385.45 crore from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to 11 States and ₹124.93 crore from National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to 3 States.

These are part of a number of steps taken, said the Ministry, to prevent any extensive loss to life and property during disasters by strengthening disaster risk reduction system in India.