A high-level committee, led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Friday approved additional assistance of Rs 4,381.88 crore to six states that were affected by cyclone, landslides, and floods this year. The assistance will come from the National Disaster Response Fund.

The Centre has approved Rs 2,707.77 crore for West Bengal and Rs 128.23 crore for Odisha. Both the states were hit by Cyclone Amphan in May. Financial aid of Rs 268.59 crore has been approved for Maharashtra to tackle the aftermath of Cyclone Nisarga. The Centre also approved Rs 611.61 crore for Madhya Pradesh, Rs.577.84 crore for Karnataka and Rs 87.84 crore for Sikkim. The three states were affected by floods and landslides during the monsoon.

In addition, the government said it has released Rs 15,524.43 crore to 28 states from the State Disaster Response Fund till date this year.

In a statement, the government said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited West Bengal and Odisha on May 22 in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan. Financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to West Bengal and Rs 500 crore to Odisha were released in advance on the next day for providing immediate relief to these affected states, it said.

“In addition, the Prime Minister had also announced Rs. 2 lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of the dead and Rs. 50,000 for the injured, which was over and above the ex-gratia provided through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the NDRF,” the statement said.

The central government had deputed Inter-Ministerial Central Teams immediately without waiting for a receipt of memorandum from the affected state governments, the statement added.