MP, UP govts donate funds for flood relief in Tripura

Agartala: The Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh governments have donated Rs 20 crore and Rs 10 crore respectively to Tripura, which has witnessed catastrophic floods for the first time in over three decades.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday said that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have announced their state's contributions.

CM Saha, who himself contributed his one month’s salary to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to provide relief to the people affected by the floods, said that many organisations and individuals have donated funds for the relief of the affected people.

Former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, who is also a Lok Sabha member from the Tripura West parliamentary constituency, donated Rs one crore from his Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS).

Tipra Motha Party supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma donated Rs ten lakh towards the relief efforts for the people affected by the floods last week.

Opening a bank account, Debbarma urged the people, who reside outside the state, to generously contribute money for the relief of the flood-hit people in the state.

Tripura Chief Minister said that the Union government has approved to release of Rs 40 crore as advance from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed him that an inter-ministerial central team would soon visit the state to assess the damage and losses due to the floods and landslides.

CM Saha during an all-party meeting here on Saturday had informed that as per preliminary assessment, the damage to the properties, crops and infrastructure amounted to around Rs 15,000 crore, which could rise further after field assessment.

The catastrophic flood in Tripura on August 19 claimed at least 31 lives, affecting over 17 lakh people while 70,000 people are in 471 relief camps. Landslides occurred in a record number of 2,066 places and many important highways, including National Highway 8, the lifeline of Tripura, have been damaged.

Disaster Management officials said that as per the initial estimates, around 20,300 houses were damaged partly and fully due to the heavy rain, landslides and floods.