SHILLONG: As weaker sections of the society are yet to get government support, Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong has said that the government had already disbursed financial assistance to 1.81 lakh workers in the state.
“For three months, we paid Rs 700 each to 1.81 lakh people in the state and if they were not in that list, I can’t help it,” Tynsong said while responding to the reports of difficulties being faced by many marginalised people owing to lack of support from the government.
It may be mentioned that even the street vendors are struggling to survive COVID crisis.
Though the ‘un-lockdown’ phase is on for a few weeks now, businesses have fallen alarmingly low. The worst affected are the street vendors who have lost their ‘spots’ along roads or on footpaths and have been compelled to take to street hawking. With no monetary help coming their way during the past four months and the business being a pale shadow of the past, it’s a double whammy for these vulnerable sections of the community.
Meanwhile, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner M War Nongbri asserted that there cannot be that random distribution of ration cards as due procedures have to be followed.
She informed that the list of beneficiaries eligible for the rations cards is drawn from the database of the Socio- Economic and Caste Census (SECC).
War said that the Central government was planning to identify families without ration card through the SECC but the exercise has been halted because of the pandemic.
In addition, the Centre also plans to identify the poor in the different villages through its Atma Nirbhar Bharat scheme.
She said that the district administration is collecting data from urban areas and villages to cover them under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat as per the guidelines of the Centre.
The government had also contemplated to make door-to-door visits but the spike in COVID-19 cases prevented it. For better information, the government will reach out to the Dorbar Shnong, the DC added.
As of now, the list of non card holders is under process of verification and new cards will be made available to them after completion of the verification process.
