New Delhi, April 1 A total of ₹4,331.68 crore has been spent under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) since its launch in 2011, aimed at strengthening disaster resilience in coastal states, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said the first phase of the project, approved in January 2011, saw an expenditure of ₹2,524.84 crore, while ₹1,806.84 crore was spent under the second phase, approved in July 2015.
The NCRMP aims to build infrastructure to minimize vulnerability to cyclones and make coastal communities and assets disaster-resilient, while maintaining ecological balance.
The project was implemented in two phases across eight coastal states. The first phase, covering Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, was completed in December 2018.
The second phase covered Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, and was completed in March 2023.
"The Government of India had approved the NCRMP with the overall objective to build better infrastructure for minimising vulnerability to cyclones and making people and infrastructure disaster resilient," Rai said.
Key components of the project included early warning dissemination systems, multi-purpose cyclone shelters, evacuation roads and bridges, saline embankments, underground cabling, and capacity-building initiatives.
The minister also said that for effective implementation, capacity-building efforts were undertaken through training programmes and awareness measures.
A Project Monitoring Unit was set up at the Centre level, with similar mechanisms adopted by states for coordination and monitoring, he added.