Several among the 25 affected families from Pune, who lost their near and dear ones in the Uttarakhand floods, have still not received the compensation money from the government, even six months after all the missing victims were officially declared dead. The district administration, in December last year, had received a correspondence from the Uttarakhand government through the Maharashtra secretariat confirming the death of missing Pune residents. The group from Pune district was said to be travelling with local tour operators, and reportedly went missing from Rambada sector of Uttarakhand, which was completely destroyed after the floods. After search and rescue operations were officially called off, the Uttarakhand government declared that all missing would be “presumed dead”. “We have not received any communication from the district administration about the compensation. Our entire family was in a state of trauma after the incident. The district administration should have handed over the compensation money at the time of issuing death certificates,” said Abhijeet Tak, who lost his parents in the disaster. The legitimate heir from the family of each victim was entitled to receive around Rs 5.5 lakh, which includes shares of both Uttarakhand and Maharashtra governments. Ravindra Gaikwad, who lost his father, said he enquired with the talathi and tehsildar-level officials for the compensation, but to no avail. “We have not received any compensation yet. The inordinate delay is beyond our understanding,” he told Newsline on Monday. Uttarakhand and adjoining areas received heavy rainfall between June 14 and June 17 last year, resulting in devastating floods and landslides in the country’s worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. As per official figures, more than 5,700 people were “presumed dead”. While Resident Deputy Collector Suresh Jadhav could not be reached for comments, tehsildar-level officials concerned came out with different answers when asked about the delay in awarding compensation. Haveli tehsildar D S Kumbhar said his office had furnished information about legitimate heirs of the victims to the district administration a few weeks ago and his office had no further role to play in the matter. Tehsildar Kiran Kakde, who also shares responsibility of compensation distribution in parts of Pune district, said the cheques were ready and would be issued shortly. The exact number of affected families who are still deprived of the compensation money could not be ascertained. Authorities from the district disaster management unit said finding legitimate heirs of victims was proving a time-consuming process and that could have resulted in the delay. Vasant Kamathe, who lost his wife and three other relatives in the tragedy and is attached with the crime branch of Pune police at present, said he received the compensation amount only a couple of days ago.
