Chennai: Enumeration of families living in the first and second floors of multi-storey buildings across the city for payment of Rs 5,000 flood relief assistance has not gone down well with social activists.
A. Narayanan, director, Change India, said all families living in multi-storey buildings irrespective of the damages suffered by them are being enumerated for distribution of relief assistance. Citing an example of a multi-storey apartment complex comprising 384 flats in Virugambakkam, he said the enumerator has taken down the names and account numbers of all the residents of the apartment even though floodwaters did not enter these apartments and no damage was caused.
“Officials did not bother to find out if water entered the apartments and if their property was damaged,” he said, adding that such a futile exercise may be happening elsewhere in Chennai and other districts too.
Hence, it is important that the staff deputed by the revenue department for enlisting the residents and assessing the damage are briefed properly so that while no one affected by the floods are missed out on compensation, public money is not squandered away to undeserving persons in the guise of monetary relief, he said.
N. Gunasekaran, a resident of Sidco Nagar in Villivakkam said that there was no rationale in the distribution of relief assistance to the flood affected people. “How come a person living in the ground floor who suffered maximum damages in the flood and those living in the first and above floors who faced relatively less damage can be paid same amount of compensation?” he asked.
He suffered a loss of over Rs 1 lakh in terms of damages to household items in the flood. “In my apartment, families living in the first and second floor whose vehicles were damaged in the floods also will also get the same compensation amount. The government should pay more for those who had suffered more loss,” he said.
Satta Panchayat Iyakkam general secretary Senthil Arumugam said the decision to pay same compensation seems to have been taken with an eye on elections. “The government fixed same amount of compensation to pacify the public anger and to ensure it does not reflect in election outcome,” he said.
However, a senior government official said the enumeration is being carried out as per government guidelines. “No persons unaffected by the flood will get monetary compensation,” the official said, adding all the completely damaged huts in the flood would get Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 would be paid to the affected families living in pucca structures. “Those living in pucca structures will be eligible for compensation, if either water had entered their house or surrounded it for over 48 hours,” the official clarified.
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