Rajkot quake aid recipients cross Census numbers

The quake that devastated Kutch on Jan 26, 2001 may have become a dim memory but even now, cases of serious irregularities in relief and reh...

The quake that devastated Kutch on Jan 26, 2001 may have become a dim memory but even now, cases of serious irregularities in relief and rehabilitation are coming to light. In the latest instance, the office of the Accountant General in Rajkot has found that the number of families who got housing assistance exceeded the number of houses recorded in the Census.

The amount involved is a whopping Rs 165 crore. The discrepancy came to light during audit of financial aid paid to quake-affected families in the district in 2001-2. Now, the Gujarat Disaster Management Authority has asked local authorities to clear the objections raised by the AG team.

‘‘We are concerned with housing assistance in rural areas and have so far paid Rs 603 crore for 2,86,583 houses. We have received an audit objection, but since no details had been provided, we have written back,’’ said District Development Officer Rajiv Topno.

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He also denied there was any indictment from the AG. ‘‘The matter is still at clarification stage and the audit report is not final.’’ He also claimed that rules do not permit the AG office to base observations on the Census.

Collector R.P. Gupta was more forthcoming, ‘‘We are starting a village-wise verification to know the truth. But I do not deny the possibility of some irregularities.’’

Gupta said the difference works out to one lakh houses in rural areas and 12,000 in urban areas, and the AG team seemed to have arrived at the figure of Rs 165 crore on the basis of these discrepancies.

He said the Census figures were ‘‘not sacrosanct’’; there could be cases of families being left out during the Census or joint families getting divided.

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‘‘But still we want to satisfy ourselves that the money has been paid to the right people. We have asked our staff to verify each case,’’ Gupta said.

District Panchayat V-P Navalsinh Jadeja claimed that all families which got assistance were genuine, but alleged ‘‘corruption’’ in distribution.

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