West Bengal quake victims to get Rs 120 crore

The Centre has released Rs 120 crore to West Bengal for relief and rehabilitation of the victims of last month's devastating earthquake. Following a request from the state, the government approved Rs 120.02 crore for relief and rehabilitation of quake-affected people, a Home Ministry official said.

The amount was the second instalment of Central share of State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF). This will be in addition to around Rs 554.55 crore available with the state government in SDRF for relief expenditure.

For assessing the damage, caused by the earthquake in West Bengal, an Inter-Ministerial Central Team was constituted which had visited Kalimpong, Darjeeling and other affected areas and made an on-the-spot assessment. The team leader also met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Upon receipt of the team report, it would be fast-tracked for consideration of the High Level Committee (HLC) and release of admissible support from the National Disaster Response Fund, the official said.

The earthquake affected five districts of West Bengal namely Darjeeling, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Uttar Dinajpur and Malda adjoining the epicentre of the earthquake near the Indo-Nepal border in Sikkim. It had caused loss of nine human lives besides extensive damage to properties and standing crops.