Government on Thursday decided to release Rs 1 billion from the Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund to the Ministry of Home Affairs to mitigate the disaster caused by recent floods and landslides across the country.

Of Rs 2.17 million collected in the fund, Rs 1 billion will be allocated to the Home Ministry for now, according to Fund Operating Committee Chairman and National Planning Commission Vice-Chair Swarnim Wagle.

“The Home Ministry has said that it has other essentials things to manage in the flood-hit areas rather than money,” he said, “But still the Ministry can spend the cash as per the necessity.”

He said that Rs 50 million will be released for now and the remaining amount will be provided to the Home Ministry when needed.

Wagle said that the government has already announced to provide Rs 200,000 to each affected families.

According to the statistics provided by the Home Ministry, 128 people have lost their lives by Wednesday night.

He said that 20.56 million will be spent if Rs 200,000 is distributed to each affected families.

The decision regarding how much money should be doled out to the injured and missing persons has not been taken yet.