HONG KONG, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- A grant of 4.81 million Hong Kong dollars (about 610,000 U.S. dollars) from Hong Kong's Disaster Relief Fund has been approved for the flood victims in India, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government announced on Thursday.

The HKSAR government has accepted the advice of the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee and approved the grant to the Hong Kong-based CEDAR Fund for providing relief to flood victims in the Maharashtra state of India, a spokesman for the HKSAR government said.

The grant will be used to provide food, household and hygiene items to the victims, the spokesman said, adding that the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee hoped the grant would facilitate the provision of timely relief to the victims and help them restore their normal living.

To ensure that the money is used for the designated purposes, the CEDAR Fund will be asked to submit an evaluation report and an audited account on the use of the grant after the relief project has been completed, the spokesman said.

The Disaster Relief Fund, established in 1993 and chaired by the HKSAR government's chief secretary for administration, aims to provide a ready mechanism for Hong Kong to respond swiftly to appeals for humanitarian aid in relief of disasters that occur outside Hong Kong.

The fund has recently approved disaster relief grants for flood or cyclone victims in several different areas, including the Chinese mainland, India and Nepal.