The Hong Kong government said Friday it would ask the Legislative Council Finance Committee for a grant of 150 million HK dollars to be allocated to the Disaster Relief Fund to provide relief to the drought victims in Chinese mainland.

A government spokesman said that the government proposed a direct allocation of 120 million HK dollars to the three provinces/ regions suffering severe drought, namely Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, granting 40 million HK dollars each.

The remaining 30 million HK dollars will be reserved for application by non-governmental organizations for relief work.

The Finance Committee has decided to convene a special meeting on April 1 to examine the application, the spokesman said.

The spokesman said the government will promptly consult the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee once the funding application was approved so as to extend timely relief to the victims.

The committee will also adopt a special mechanism to enable the government to respond quickly to applications from relief organizations with a view to providing relief to the victims speedily.