IMPHAL, January 8: The All Tribal Chief’s Association Manipur (ATCAM) deploring the slow response of the state Government to reach out to the victims of the recent earthquake especially in the hill districts, has urged the State to approach central Government to sanction adequate relief assistance to ensure that none of the quake affected victim is left out.
A statement issued by the ATCAM, stated that preliminary report of loss and damages published in some of the local dailies does not include those casualties from the interior areas of the State as the State government agencies have failed to undertake field visits and damage assessments in the aftermath of the quake.
As per the report compiled by the Chief’s Association, altogether 10, 555 houses have been affected by the recent quake of which 3525 are in Tamenglong, 3245 in Senapati/Sadar Hill, 1335 in Ukhrul, 950 in Chandel and 1500 in Churachandpur, it claimed.
The figures are preliminary compiled from tribal chiefs and the figure is likely to increase as more reports from far-flung and interior areas are yet to be received, it said.
It has been estimated that the loss and damages to lives and properties in the hill districts of Manipur is around Rs 525 crores, it further claimed.
But, it is astonishing to learn that the chief secretary has asked for about a meager amount of Rs. 20 crores from the centre to award relief assistance to the victims of the earthquake, it lamented.
It further appealed to both the Central and State governments to speed up the process of awarding relief assistance at the earliest possible time.
Further alleging that number of files with regards to award of relief assistance are still lying pending without taking any final decisions, it urged the State government to adhere to the guidelines as laid down in the “items and norms of assistance from the State Disaster Response fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response fund (NDRF) for the period 2015-2020” with regard to grant of relief assistance to the victims of natural calamities.
The chiefs’ association further claimed that the relief assistance amount sanctioned to district disaster Management Authority (DDMA) are yet to be fully disbursed as some portion in the form deductions were made by district authorities.
Against this backdrop, it appealed to the Chief Secretary to instruct the Deputy Commissioners to affect the transfer of relief assistance to the victims of recent earthquake through electronic transfer into the respective accounts of the victims to avoid any forms of cuts or deduction.