MARGAO
Talathis from Salcete have a job at hand, apart from their routine revenue duties “ fan out to various villages and check the validity of claims made by victims of natural calamities during Cyclone Tautktae.
For, while the district authorities had cleared the proposals for relief which had come immediately after the cyclone had hit the state, the authorities have launched an exercise to verify and certify the claims that came for compensation a little late.
Officials in the know say that Dy Collector and SDM, Margao Jyoti Kumari has issued a memorandum to the Salcete Mamlatdars and the Jt Mamlatdars directing them to certify the claims on case to case basis and also to check the validity of the claims as well and go into the reasons of the delay in receiving the claims.
Given the situation, the office of Mamlatdar and Jt Mamlatdars are believed to have issued instructions to the village talathis to verify the claims for compensation.
Officials pointed out that this is perhaps the first time that an exercise has been initiated by the authorities to check and verify the claims for compensation on grounds the applications came late. “There could be a host of reasons why the applications have come late to the authorities. It could be even because of delay on the part of the officials to forward the claims to the higher authorities for want of certain documents”, remarked an official.
Even as the authorities have initiated the exercise to check and verify the claims for compensation, lower rung officials pointed out that they have been at the receiving end of the claimants, with many questioning the delay in disbursing the relief under the disaster management funds.
Incidentally, as reported by The Goan, farmers, whose paddy crop was destroyed by Cyclone Tauktae are still awaiting compensation, with the authorities still debating on a question whether the compensation should paid from the national disaster funds or through the ShetkariAadhar Nidhi scheme.
