Monday morning witnessed a repeat of the scenes before and immediately after the election notification for the GHMC polls, when people began gathering near Mee Seva centres in expectation of flood relief amount.
Serpentine queues were noticed at several Mee Seva Centres in the city, with residents of the respective localities arriving there with Aadhaar and ration cards. People waited in large groups as early as 8 a.m., even before the centres opened for the days’ business, eye witnesses informed. A large majority of them were women, who squatted on the road waiting for the staff to arrive, resulting in traffic issues. Police had to intervene and regulate the crowds.
Several Mee Seva centres in Alwal, Jagadgirigutta and other locations saw the rush. People began to trickle in other locations too, forcing the centres to shut the shop even before they were opened. Police were deployed to disperse the crowds in locations such as East Marredpally, in anticipation of trouble. At about 9.30 a.m., GHMC Commissioner D.S.Lokesh Kumar issued a statement, asking the flood victims not to come to the Mee Seva Centres for the relief amount. GHMC teams are collecting the details from the field, and once their details and Aadhaar numbers are verified, the amount will be directly remitted into their respective accounts, the statement said.
This was followed by another express circular from the Information Technology, Electronics & Communications department, ordering closure of the Mee Seva Centres for the day, in order to avoid untoward incidents. It is not clearly known who spread the misinformation about flood relief distribution resuming from Monday onwards. Sources attribute it to promises by the political leaders during elections, that the relief distribution would continue after the model code of conduct for elections ceases to exist. The relief amount of ₹10,000 announced for every household impacted by the floods was initially disbursed in cash by the GHMC & Revenue officials who went from door to door distributing it.
The whole distribution was mired in controversy, with allegations that the truly deserving had not got the relief while those who were unaffected by the floods reaped the benefit. Later, just before the election notification, the distribution shifted to online through Mee Seva centres, where the relief was directly deposited into accounts, immediately after the Aadhaar & ration cards verification. Huge throngs gathered at the Mee Seva centres then too, with people choosing to spend night on the road till the centres opened next day, instead of going home. The distribution was halted after the State Election Commission issued orders terming it as against the election code.
