Many civic organization in Vizag suspect a massive misuse of funds collected from public at the time Hudhud last year in the name of providing relief to the people affected. They demand a special audit of the accounts of the funds by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). The government celebration of anniversary of Hudhud successful relief operations by the government in a big way. While majority of the poor, who had suffered extensive damage, were yet to receive compensation, the government celebrated its success in the Hudhud management. This has given rise to doubts in the minds of local people. Forum for better Visakah (FBV) has taken up the cause and now demanding the audit of the accounts pertaining to the Rs 260 crore donated by voluntary organizations and public. FBV is an organization of eminent residents of the city to preserve the cultural, democratic, livelihood rights of the people of Visakhapatnam city.
According to EAS Sarma of FBV 52,000 affected persons hadn’t got any relief from the government. According a survey conducted by the officials about one lakh houses got damaged in Hudhud cyclone. Sarma says these people had been denied relief on the pretext that they did not have Aadhar card or bank account etc. He said many push card vendors, auto drivers had been among those who were denied the relief. Among the fishermen, except some boat owners, nobody had been given any relief just because they were not member of any registered societies.
The points raised by Forum for Better Visakah are:
1.The State authorities were prompt in providing relief to influential, especially industrial houses but extraordinarily slow, practically inactive, in reaching out to the poor. I visited many slums for months together extending a helping hand, including giving the residents thousands of solar lamps and setting up solar street lights. From my first-hand experience, there was not much of evidence of local officials visiting the slums for providing help. I have got some slums surveyed and have data to show that a large proportion of slum dwellers were yet to receive any monetary help till June, 2015.
2.The State’s Ministers and officers who converged on Visakhapatnam, ostensibly to provide “relief” to the residents refused to stay in modest government guest houses and, instead chose to stay at the local five-star hotels some of which are guilty of violating the law of the land. The people here wondered as to how the government could afford such extravagance. Who provided them hospitality, the government and the tax-payer or the hotel promoters?
3.The State government opened a website www.hudhud.ap.gov.in with a great deal of fanfare and gave hopes to the citizens that all relevant information would be uploaded to that website. A look at the website a couple of days ago showed that it had not been updated since October, 2014! Had the government rendered transparency in spending the public funds for Hud Hud relief, the public would have provided useful feedback and constructive inputs.
4.There are hundreds of traditional fishing families affected by the cyclone. Many of their homes got uprooted and boats destroyed. The relief announced by the government for such fishing communities was inadequate but even that has not reached them fully.
5.The State received special financial assistance from the Centre and crores of rupees of donations from individuals and institutions. There is no public disclosure of the details of the same and how that money had been spent.
6.The State “celebrated” the “Hud Hud Utsav” on 12-10-2015. The Utsav was a grand spectacle of extravagance with the VIPs arriving in special aircraft, something not even done by rich sheikhs from the oil-rich middle-eastern countries! Had the State avoided the profligacy and given that amount to the poor in slums, they would have constructed thousands of homes on their own!
7. Some here in Visakhapatnam get the feeling that a portion of the Hud Hud funds have got diverted to fill the public expenditure vortex created by the blackhole of the grandiose “Capital City Project” near Amaravati near Guntur. I enclose a copy of my letter to Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to the PM on that project which CAG should, in my view, audit at an appropriate time.
In a Parliamentary democracy like ours, the executive should remain fully accountable for every rupee of public expenditure. It is the CAG who has the obligation to audit the expenditure and report to the legislature said FBV in a letter written to the state government.
