A round-table organised by the Left parties on Wednesday faulted the government for celebrating Visakha Utsav without fully compensating for the Hudhud damages. A large number of people have not received a single rupee.
Notable among them, according to CPI (M) city secretary B. Ganga Rao, is non-payment of compensation to 65 per cent of the houses damaged.
Payment was made only for 35 per cent of 1.68 lakh houses damaged and another 65,000 applications made by people on damages remain unverified, he said. In agriculture, damage was shown only in 38,000 ha though the damage was in 3 lakh ha, he maintained.
Lack of Aadhar cards, photos or wrong names in bank accounts and online problems were cited as reasons for non-payment, Mr. Ganga Rao said. But the responsibility of rectifying them and reaching out to the sufferers was that of the government.
The pleas of boat operators and fish workers to amend GO No. 13 went unheeded and Rs.3.22 crore announced could not be disbursed. Though 8,000 hawkers suffered losses, only 2,000 got compensation.
Meagre aidCPI district secretary A.J. Stalin said though sugarcane farmers lost heavily, compensation was only Rs.15,000 per ha and it should be increased to Rs.25,000. Though the maximum compensation for housing loss was Rs.50,000, most of the people got only the minimum of Rs.5,000, he pointed out.
Representatives of autorickshaw drivers said though 6,000 autos were damaged depriving them of livelihood no compensation was received so far. Representatives of CPI-ML (Liberation) and New Democracy, SUCI-C and MCPI-U participated.
