Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Dec 19: The Central Government today said that State Government has failed to give them details of about 2.4 lakh houses that were damaged in the September floods and so far it has received details of 5,000 beneficiaries only.
The Home Ministry has sent the proposal of Rs 41, 003.45 crore flood losses projected by Jammu and Kashmir Government to the Finance and Planning Commission for its consideration.
The status report filed by Vinay Kajla, Joint Advisor National Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Home Affairs, before Jammu and Kashmir High Court revealed that State Government has sent hard copy of beneficiary list of 16, 264 on November 3 to the NDMA. However, on November 19, they sent the soft copy of only 9800 beneficiaries whose houses were damaged in September floods.
The report says: “The Account details, as provided by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir was not complete in all aspects. Some cases were without IFSC codes and in certain cases 4-5 digits of 16 digit accounts were provided. This information was inadequate to proceed with the payment.”
The report says that Central Government has so far released a payment of Rs 17.09 crores to 2440 beneficiaries while payment for 2660 beneficiaries is in progress.
“The banks have rejected 284 cases and NDMA is sending 800 cases to State Government for re-verification and are returning 3200 cases for incomplete account details. The State Government has not sent account details of 4300 cases at all. 1780 cases have been sent to State Government for confirmation to avoid wrong payment. In nearly 500 cases, mostly from Srinagar, there are multiple beneficiaries for one damaged house and one account name has been furnished the State Government”, says the report.
Out of Rs 17.09 crore released directly by Centre, Rs 1.20 crore have been released to beneficiaries of Jammu district, Rs 0.68 crore to Bandipora district, Rs 0.07 crore to Doda district, Rs 1.41 crore to Udhampur district, Rs 0.05 crores to Kishtwar district, Rs 0.10 lakh to Shopain district, Rs 0.26 Crore to Ramban district, Rs 2.83 crore to Rajouri district, Rs 2.68 crore to Anantnag district, Rs 1.68 crore to Kulgam district, Rs 1.24 crore to Baramulla district, Rs 0.20 crore to Samba district and Rs 4.66 crore to Budgam district while not a single penny has been released to the beneficiaries of Srinagar district that suffered major damages.
In the meantime, keeping in view winter season and hardships faced by the flood victims and observing the pace of work by the Government, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court fixed deadline of December 31, to the State Government for completion of Shelter Sheds and payment of rentals to the flood victims whose houses were damaged during recent floods.
Division Bench of High Court comprising Justice MH Attar and Justice B L Bhat fixed deadline as December 31 for the State Government for completion of Shelter Sheds and Payment of rentals to the flood victims and handing over these Shelters to the victims on January 1 of next year.
Court after hearing Advocate General of State, M I Qadri, three Deputy Commissioners and Chief Engineer I&FC, Kashmir who were present in the court in terms of court orders, directed that the Shelter Sheds must be completed by December 31 and process of handing over these shelters to the flood victims be completed by January 1.
Court after providing details of work by three DCs and CE observed the work is going on snail’s pace and pulled up AG with the observation: “They (people) are our masters and we are servants, you have gone to people for what? Serve them as a human being and as a soil of the son”.
Court also questioned the fixation of Rs. 75000 as interim relief and observed: “This is wrong policy of the Government and this amount is as good as peanuts”, observed Justice Attar. To this query AG submitted that it is provided in the Act. “We can’t change this. Can’t you pass an executive order to help your people, don’t make such a statement. Your Government will be caught on wrong food”, the bench observed.
Appearing counsel for Central Government submitted that Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50000 have been paid by Centre as ex-gratia from Prime Ministers Relief Fund (PMRF) for fully damaged and partially damaged houses respectively to those whose full particulars as well as bank details have been provided by the State Government. He further submitted that State Government has not provided correct bank details in most cases due to which payment has not been made in their favour.
Court said that in case anybody will not receive interim relief, he should approach and inform registrar judicial.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel