Over 13,000 families in Kerala are yet to get even the basic assistance of Rs 10,000 each announced by the Kerala government even three months after the calamities hit Kerala for the second year in a row this August.
The inordinate delay in disbursing compensation is triggering resentment among the people. Hundreds of calamity-hit people of Kavalappara in Malappuram, which witnessed a major landslide that vanished an entire locality comprising over 40 houses and claimed around fifty lives, even staged a protest at a village office in the locality demanding immediate disbursal of the compensation.
According to government sources, out of the 1.44 lakh families affected by the 2019 calamities, about 1.31 lakh families were already paid the basic assistance of Rs 10,000 each. About 13,000 were yet to be paid owing to various technical reasons. The distribution of compensation of up to Rs 10 lakh announced for those who irrecoverably lost houses and properties were yet to commence as the filed verification of the extent of damages were not yet over.
As per the initial estimates, over 1,200 houses were fully damaged and nearly 13,000 houses partially damaged. But the actual numbers crossed 50,000 and houses that suffered over 30 percent damage would require field visits by tahasildars.
Dileep, a resident of Kavalappra, told DH that the families that lost houses completely were now residing either at the mercy of their relatives or at rented house. Since one or more lives were lost in almost all the families in the locality the people were even not mentally recovered to go for jobs and eak out a living.
At Puthumala in Wayanad, where over 30 people were killed and about 25 houses fully damaged, though an alternative land for rehabilitating the families were identified, the acquisition of land and construction of houses were still pending.
While the victim allege of red-tapism and apathy of the government machinery for the inordinate delay in disbursing even the basic assistance, government officials maintained that in many cases the payments was effected due to reasons like unavailability of bank account details of the victims and mismatches in the documents like ration cards and Aadhaar cards. Obviously there might be about five percent error in any system, said a senior government official.
During the 2018 floods the immediate assistance of Rs 10,000 was disbursed through banks. But there were widespread allegations that the compensation did not reach the deserved. Hence, this time the compensations were paid directly by the Land Revenue Commissionerate by compiling data received from all districts.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks