Huge number of people still waiting for flood relief

Vijayawada: One month has passed since the Budameru devastated half of Vijayawada, but a large number of flood victims did not get the compensation till now. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu instructed the officials to pay compensation to all flood victims by October 4 at any cost.

On Tuesday, thousands of people submitted applications at the district collectorate in Vijayawada seeking compensation from the government. Budameru floods affected 32 municipal divisions in Vijayawada city on September 1 against the total 64 divisions. Exactly half of the city was badly affected and thousands of families suffered huge losses.

The government has announced that enumeration work was completed and payment of compensation also started. But even after one month passed since disaster struck the city on September 1, utter chaos prevailed in the city on payment of compensation.

Common people suffered loss at their homes and many traders suffered loss at home as well as at shops. Thousands of families suffered loss due to damage of vehicles.

So far, there is no clarity on payment of compensation to the vehicle owners. The government announced Rs 3,000 compensation to the two wheelers and Rs 10,000 to the auto owners.

The irony is the enumeration teams visited the homes when floodwater had not fully receded. A large number of families were not at home when enumeration teams visited. Mapping is another problem being faced by the flood victims. Hundreds of families came to flood affected areas recently from other areas of the city and mapping of their homes and Aadhaar numbers was not done. These families may not get compensation because mapping was not done so far.

Many people find fault with the enumeration process. The enumeration teams hurriedly did the work giving suspicion that the data was not entered properly. Another big problem faced by the flood victims is the amount was credited in defunct accounts of the victims. The flood victims could not withdraw the amount because their accounts were closed a long time ago and they do not have ATM cards to withdraw the money.

These victims are asking the government to transfer the money to other accounts, which are in use. Due to various reasons, people close bank accounts. They may face difficulties withdrawing money from these accounts.

The government staff visit thousands of houses and shops and collect information on the loss sustained due to floods within two or three days.

Many flood-victims submitted applications to the collectorate through the office of the Central MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao also. A senior official at the Collectorate said October 1 was the last date to receive the applications. Utter chaos prevailed as to why the names of flood victims are missing and questions are being raised on payment of compensation as instructed by CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu to all flood victims by October 4. The ward secretariat staff is also clueless why the names of flood victims are not in the list prepared by the government staff.