The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday approved the release of Rs 338 crore to Gujarat and Rs 633 crore to Himachal Pradesh as financial assistance for damages caused by natural calamities.

The Union Home Minister's Office said in a post on X that Gujarat was severely affected by Cyclone Biparjoy and, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Centre and the state made advanced preparations before it, achieving a zero-casualty rate during the natural calamity.

In the aftermath of the extremely severe cyclone, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) immediately deputed the Inter-Ministerial Central Team to assess the damages, without waiting for a memorandum from the state government.

"The MHA has approved the financial assistance of Rs 338.24 crore to Gujarat today," the Home Minister's Office said.

The Centre had earlier released the first instalment of its share, amounting to Rs 584 crore, to the State Disaster Response Force.

The Home Minister's Office said in another post that the ministry also approved an additional financial assistance of Rs 633.73 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund for Himachal Pradesh.

The hill state was severely affected by floods, cloudbursts and landslides during this year's southwest monsoon.

Pursuing Prime Minister Modi's approach of providing swift relief to the affected, an Inter-Ministerial Central Team for assessment of the damages was deputed without waiting for the state government's memorandum.

An amount of Rs 200 crore was released in advance from the National Disaster Response Fund on August 21 to help the state government in managing the immediate relief operations.

The Centre had earlier released both instalments of its share to the State Disaster Response Force, totalling Rs 360.80 crore, the Home Minister's Office said.

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