New Delhi, Aug 31: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has constituted Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs), each for Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to assess damage caused by heavy rainfall, flood, flash flood, cloudbursts and landslides, an official said on Sunday.

A statement noted that the IMCTs, set up on the directions of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, would conduct an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and relief work carried out by the state government.

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central government stands shoulder to shoulder with the states affected by natural calamities in mitigating the hardship faced by the people," the MHA statement read.

These Central teams will visit early next week the flood/landslide-affected districts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, which have been severely affected by heavy to extremely heavy rainfall and incidents of flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides, during the current monsoon season.

An IMCT, and a Multi-Sectoral Team have already visited the state of Himachal Pradesh, the statement mentioned.

The Central Teams are led by a senior officer of the level of Joint Secretary in MHA/NDMA and will have senior officials from the Ministries/ Departments of Expenditure, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Jal Shakti, Power, Road Transport and Highways, Rural Development.

The MHA is in touch with senior officers of these states/UT, and has extended all necessary logistic assistance by the deployment of the requisite number of teams of NDRF, Army and Air Force helicopters, who are helping them in search & rescue and restoration of essential services.

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"As per the decision taken by the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, in August 2019, the MHA constitutes IMCTs immediately in the aftermath of a severe disaster for on-spot assessment of the damage, without waiting for their memorandum. After the assessment of damage is done by the IMCT, Central Government provides additional financial assistance to State from NDRF, as per the established procedure," the MHA statement noted.

During the financial year 2025-26, the Central government has released Rs 10,498.80 crore to 24 States in SDRF, so as to enable the disaster affected States to provide relief assistance to the affected people immediately and Rs 1,988.91 crore from NDRF to 12 States, Rs 3,274.90 crore from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) to 20 states and Rs 372.09 crore from National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) to nine states.

(IANS)

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