DW BUREAU / shimla Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has expressed gratitude to the Central Government and especially to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for releasing an interim assistance of Rs. 200 crore to Himachal Pradesh under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). Chief Minister said that in view of the huge loss caused by the natural calamities in the State during monsoon season, the State Government had requested the Central Government to provide special relief and Central assistance under NDRF. He said that the Central Government had accepted the special request of the State Government and earlier had released Rs. 191.90 crore as second installment of the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) on 29th August, 2022 itself instead of December. Due to early release of this installment, the relief works were expedited in the state. The Chief Minister added that now the Central Government had again released Rs. 200 crore under NDRF on 16th September, 2022 in advance. He said that this would expedite the relief, rehabilitation and restoration works in the state and the affected people would get adequate relief assistance at the earliest. Jai Ram Thakur said that there had been a huge loss of life and property in the state during this monsoon season from 29th June to 16th September, 2022 due to heavy rainfall, landslides and cloudburst incidents. He said that the State Government had requested the Central Government to send an Inter-Ministerial Central Team to take stock of the huge damage caused by natural calamities in the State. The Central Government had responded promptly and 6 members Inter-Ministerial Central Team visited the disaster affected areas of the state in mid-monsoon itself, from 28th August to 30th August, 2022, he added. Meanwhile, a meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) was held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary-cum-Chairman of the SEC R.D Dhiman in which the revised guidelines of the State Disaster Fund issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to the state government were approved. The Chief Secretary directed to all the concerned departments to send the projects as per the guidelines laid down by the Government of India. Approval was given to formulate an appointment policy for the strengthening of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in which the state Police department would play major role. The approval was also given in the meeting to 18 projects worth Rs 34.75 crore related to State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF). RD Dhiman also reviewed the situation of spread of lumpy disease. (editor@dailyworld.in)