New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) The central government Monday assured the states hit by natural calamities that money was not a constraint for carrying out rescue and rehabilitation works as the country’s economy is strong.
International lending institutions will help India carry out the rescue and rehabilitation as the country has reported 7.9 percent growth in the second quarter - a sign that India’s “economy is strong”, said Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the Lok Sabha Monday while replying to a debate on natural calamities in the country.

Nineteen members participated in the Lok Sabha debate, which saw a slugfest between former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ananth Kumar over the money utilised by the BJP government in Karnataka to tackle the recent floods.

Assuring MPs that the government was there to help the states in times of any calamity, Chidambaram said the “central government makes no distinction” between states.

“A national calamity is not made by any government. We are all here to help. We are not here to score points,” the home minister assured the house.

He also asked state governments “to focus on rehabilitation work and re-construction work” at the ground level.

Chidambaram said the central government had responded immediately when the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were hit by floods recently.

He also promised the release of the remaining amount of money by the central government for rehabilitation projects in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Asking calamity affected-state governments to conduct rescue and rehabilitation work immediately by taking money from its cash balances, the home minister said: “Don’t wait for money. You will get money (from the centre).”