New Delhi [India], May 27 (ANI): The Central government has released an advance of Rs 324 crore from the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) to the flood-hit Assam.

Finance Ministry's order dated May 25 stated, "Keeping in view of damage caused by floods and landslides in many parts of the State during first of 2022, the amount is being released to the state government in advance on the recommendation received from Ministry of Home Affairs."Following this, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to Twitter to express his gratefulness. "Grateful to Adarniya Pradhan Mantri Shri @narendramodi jiAdarniya Griha Mantri Shri @amitshah ji for releasing an advance of Rs 324 cr from SDRF to help Assam deal with the ongoing flood situation. The funds will ensure timely reliefrehabilitation of affected citizens," wrote Sarma.

A team of officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday reached Guwahati and held a meeting with Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) officials regarding the damage assessment of recent flood and landslide in the state.

The flood this year has hit many parts of Assam and affected almost 3.46 lakh people and 247 villages. According to the reports of ASDMA, it was discussed that to accelerate an effective damage assessment, IMCT members will be divided into two groups for visiting the relevant affected districts.

The first group included the team leader Ravinesh Kumar, FA, NDMA, Anjali Maurya, Assistant Director, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Adelbert Sungi, Regional Officer, Ministry of Road Transport and accompanied by P. Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, IAS, Jt. Secretary and Jt. CEO, ASDMA will visit the Cachar and Dima Hasao districts on May 27 and May 28, 2022.

The second group of IMCT including Jintu Das, Jt. Director, Ministry of Agriculture, Ajay Kumar Sinha, Superintending Engineer, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Kailash Shankla, Under Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India will visit the Darrang, Nagaon, and Hojai districts on May 27 and May 28, 2022.

As per the flood report till date, two people lost their lives in the flood in the last 24 hours and now a total of 30 human lives (25 in Flood5 in Landslide) have been lost in the first phase of the flood till date and 5,61,149 populations of 956 villages in 12 districts remain affected.

A total of 47,139.12 hectares of crop areas have been affected and 295 relief camps and 70 relief distribution centres have been opened in all affected areas. A total of 66,836 inmates are staying in these centres. (ANI)