Budget 2024: Nirmala Sitharaman announces assistance for flood affected Bihar, Assam, Himachal, Uttarakhand and Sikkim

Budget 2024: With several regions facing huge damage and extensive losses due to floods and natural calamities, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced financial assistance.

The announcements were made while presenting Union Budget 2024-25.

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The Union Finance Minister announced measures for Bihar, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

Stating that Bihar has frequently suffered from floods, many of them originating outside the country, Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Plans to build flood control structures in Nepal are yet to progress. 

She added that the government, through the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and other sources, will provide financial support for projects with estimated cost of ₹11,500 crore such as the Kosi-Mechi intra- state link and 20 other ongoing and new schemes including barrages, river pollution abatement and irrigation projects. 

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“In addition, survey and investigation of Kosi related flood mitigation and irrigation projects will be undertaken.”

“Assam grapples with floods every year by the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries, originating outside India. We will provide assistance to Assam for flood management and related projects,” Sitharaman said in her Budget speech in Lok Sabha.

She added that government will also provide assistance Himachal Pradesh for reconstruction and rehabilitation through multilateral development assistance.

The Himachal Pradesh government has requested the Centre to release ₹9,042 crore as financial assistance following a post-disaster assessment carried out by a central team.

The Finance Minister said that the government will also provide assistance to Uttarakhand and Sikkim which have suffered losses due to cloud bursts, devastating flash floods and massive landslides. 

Meanwhile, the Union Finance Minister also announced several measures for Bihar, including development of road connectivity projects, namely (1) Patna-Purnea Expressway, (2) Buxar- Bhagalpur Expressway, (3) Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Vaishali and Darbhanga spurs, and (4) additional 2-lane bridge over river Ganga at Buxar at a total cost of ₹26,000 crore. 

Sitharaman said that power projects, including setting up of a new 2400 MW power plant at Pirpainti, will be taken up at a cost of ₹21,400 crore. 

"New airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure in Bihar will be constructed," she added.