State to audit drought relief cheques

The seven districts of Bundelkhand region — Lalitpur,Jhansi,Jalaun and Mahoba in Jhansi division and Chitrakoot,Banda and Hamirpur in Chitrakoot division — were declared drought-hit in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

The farmers whose crop was hit were to receive compensation and the revenue board,through district revenue offices,was made the nodal department to evaluate compensation — based on damage — and hand over cheques.

But since June,reports of anomalies are pouring in.

TP Pathak,the Commissioner,Jhansi Division,said initially,there were two or three complaints regarding cheques being issued in wrong names.

“But for the last two months,we have been receiving more and more complaints ¿ people getting expired cheques,cheques issued in wrong names,with wrong amounts and even cheques issued to people who never suffered crop damage,” he said. “Once the audits are over,we will take action.”

In Jhansi district,the audits will be held from July 15 to July 28. In August,it will be the turn of by Mahoba,Hamirpur,Jalaun and Lalitpur.

The first complaint of villagers were that the compensation cheques were distributed late.

An official of Jhansi district said: “The exercise of evaluation and releasing money took a lot of time and the cheques were distributed between November 2009 and April 2010. At many places,those who were to received compensation had died and the cheques had to be reissued in their relatives’ names. Some affected farmers had also migrated to other cities.”

Between May and June,over 300 cheques were returned in Jhansi alone,when it was found that they had expired by the time they were distributed.

In 52 villages in Garautha block in Jhansi,30 cheques of Rs 250 were distributed to families whose estimated losses were much higher. In 23 villages in Jalaun district,villagers complained that compensation was paid to people whose crop was not damaged.

Pathak said as soon as audit reports are submitted,action will be taken against errant officials.

“We will look for a way to redress these complaints and ensure that compensation is given to the needy.”