Tribal Chiefs' Forum cautions of highway bandh over non disbursal of drought relief fund
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 26 2022:
The All Tribal Chiefs' Forum, Manipur (ATCF) sought the attention of Chief Minister N Biren Singh and Water Resource and Relief & Disaster Management Minister Awangbow Newmai towards the long pending issue of drought relief of 2019 .
In a press release, ATCF cautioned of Highways bandh in hill districts of the State if the Government fails to release the relief assistance to the drought affected victims before October 15, 2022 .
It may be mentioned that the State Cabinet declared Manipur as drought affected State in the year 2019 which tremendously affected agricultural activity both in the hills and valley.
After the submission of the damaged assessment report by district officials concerned, the State Government has forwarded it to NDRF, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India for grant of relief to the affected victims and farmers.
Subsequently, the NDRF released a relief amount of Rs.25 crore and above in October 2020 and the same has been deposited at the SDRF account for onward disbursal to all the affected districts through DDMA account.
However, much to the dismay of the affected people, the fund has been either diverted or frozen for the best reason known to the state government, ATCF claimed.
ATCF expressed discontent that the Government has failed to provide any positive response till date though several representations, memorandum and reminders have been submitted in the past.
Stating that the relief assistance fund should not be diverted for any other purposes and it should be awarded to the affected victims without any delay, ATCF has maintained that the victims cannot wait further and urged for speedy disbursal of relief fund.