Bolstering Capacity: Centre Allows States To Use 50% Of Disaster Response Fund To Contain Covid-19 Surge

In a bid to boost the financial capacity of the State Governments to deal with the upsurge of COVID-19 cases in the nation, the Centre has allowed the States to use 50 per cent of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the financial year to contain the spread of the virus, reports Economic Times.

The SDRF can be used by the State Governments for varied purposes like to buy ventilators and air purifiers, or for oxygen generation and storage, or for strengthening ambulance services, quarantine, sample collection, and for screening of suspected patients.

The fund can also be used for temporary accommodation, food, clothing, medical care, quarantine camps, or for cluster containment operations. The use of the fund will be overseen by a state executive committee which will be headed by the Chief Secretaries of the respective States.

The move by the Centre comes at a time when various States and Union Territories are grappling with a record daily surge of the fresh COVID-19 cases, calling an overwhelming urgency of greater efforts towards containing the pandemic and building the capacities to counter it.