SHILLONG: A day after former legislator of Bajengdoba John Manner Marak made allegation of misuse of relief funds, the North Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner W Khyllep said that Marak made the allegation since his wife projected an amount of Rs 7,72,800 as damage to his properties which is not as per norms.
“The Ex-MLA John Manner Marak through his wife claimed that the damage to his properties was Rs 7, 72,800 and wanted that compensation is to be paid by the Government for this amount. But as per the norms of the Government, he is entitled to get only around Rs 12,600 being a severely damaged pucca house”, Kyllep said.
According to Khyllep, because of “such unreasonable expectations of more financial amount which remain unfulfilled, the former legislator appears to be upset thereby trying to mislead the people through press statement”.
The official reiterated that relief is not a compensation for the house damaged but it is only an assistance or relief to the affected families.
Khyllep in a statement issued here on Saturday said that the District Administration, while releasing any relief to the affected households, follow the norms of the Central Government and after due enquiry and verification by the field officers/BDOs, the amount of money as entitled by the affected families as per norms are released accordingly.
According to the Deputy Commissioner, the contents as alleged by the ex-legislator in The Shillong Times are misleading targeting the BDO and the District Administration.
Khyllep said that their records and as the report submitted by the BDO, Resubelpara, read with the statements of the concerned Gram Sevak and the beneficiaries are facts which are not reflected in the news item.
The official also said that the report that the “cash of Rs 75,000 was to be released on Friday” was not true as no physical cash can be distributed to the affected families since all financial assistance for relief are being made through bank accounts according to the orders of the Government and Guidelines of the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) and State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).
“The allegation by the ex-MLA relating to the amount of financial assistance and the rightful beneficiaries is also not based on facts since the amount is according to NDRF norms and the beneficiaries are decided based on the reports received from BDOs, substantiated by documents at the field level, Block Junior Engineers’ Certificates and photographs”, the Deputy Commissioner said.
According to the Deputy Commissioner, ‘it is binding on the BDOs to ensure that genuine beneficiaries are given relief. “The BDOs have no power to change or select any beneficiary at their own sweet will without proper verification and without proper sanction from the District Administration and the Government”, Deputy Commissioner asserted.
According to the Deputy Commissioner, It is to be noted that the survey for the cyclone that occurred in the month of May, 2014 and landslides and flood that occurred on September 22 for some areas was done by Songsak Development Block which was later forwarded to Resubelpara Development Block following the merging of some villages
