After HT carried a report on Wednesday stating that victims of August 2011 flooding in Mehandipur village, Kalran Mohalla, Guru Gobind Singh Nagar area of the district, were yet to receive the money announced as compensation, the administration moved into action on Thursday.
Deputy commissioner Tanu M Kashyap wrote a letter to secretary, finance department, on Thursday stating that the state government had released a financial grant of Rs 35.68 lakh to the administration for distribution among nearly 250 families affected by the flood on August 16, 2012. The letter added that the administration deposited the bills with treasury department on September 26, 2012, yet the treasury officer had failed to clear the grant.
She also requested the secretary to write to the treasury officer immediately so that relief could begin. She has also quoted the HT report in her letter. Sources said that the letter was sent through fax to finance secretary in morning on Thursday.
Reacting to the letter, the treasury department passed the bills of Rs 35.68 lakh.
HT spoke with district treasury officer Gurwinder Pal Singh at around 3 pm on Thursday, he said that all bills had been cleared and he handover the cheques to the DC on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}HT spoke with district treasury officer Gurwinder Pal Singh at around 3 pm on Thursday, he said that all bills had been cleared and he handover the cheques to the DC on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}Nearly 15 flood-ravaged residents of Kalran Mohalla visited the DC office on Thursday and sought to know the status of their grants.
In the August 2011 floods normal life had been severely hit with houses damaged and cattle losing their lives.
Before carrying the report on October 31, HT had spoken to a number of people. Surjeet Kaur, a resident of Kalran Mohalla, said that even after repeated requests to the administration, no money had been given to them. She added that beds, utensils, clothes were all washed away in the floods.
Another resident, Reeta said that her family had continued to live in the damaged house as they did not have enough resources to build a new house.