The Communist Party of India (Marxist leninist) has accused the Government of false propaganda regarding its post-disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts. In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, the party has sought that work be undertaken on war footing to provide relief to the villagers in mountainous regions who are stiff facing severe hardships due to the June disaster.
According to the CPI (Ml) central committee member Raja Bahuguna, the State Government has failed to conduct relief and rehabilitation works efficiently but is indulging in spreading misinformation by taking credit for ensuring proper relief and rehabilitation works through advertisements in the media.
The destroyed or damaged main roads, pedestrian paths and bridges have not been reconstructed or repair in many disaster affected areas due to which the vegetables and fruits being cultivated in the mountainous regions are not being transported.
The farmers are losing crores of rupees due to the agriculture produce rotting in absence of transportation and proper storage facilities.
While only 300 villages are being considered to be in need or rehabilitation, the actual number of such villages is much higher, he said.
The Government had not been able to rehabilitate the residents of even one such village even though thousands of acres of land is available in the Terai region where such villagers should be resettled.
The State government does not have any public-oriented resettlement policy due to which no plan has yet been made for rehabiliting the affected villagers in the Terai region.
The affected people are facing livelihood crisis but in spite of addressing this major problem, the State machinery is focused on resuming the Char Dham Yatra at any cost, said Bahuguna. Simply facilitating the resumption of formal prayer in Kedarnath, Gangotri and Hemkund cannot be considered signs of success in disaster relief and rehabilitation, he said.
In the memorandum to the CM, the party has stated that though many crores of rupees were donated by various States, government bodies, private enterprises and groups to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund but the State Government has not yet released any account of the donation and relief amount received or the amount spent.
Considering past experiences, it is very much likely that the financial assistance being provided by the Central government may be misused as in the past funds meant for public after floods, landslides, earthquakes and other disasters were misused by public representatives and public servants, States the memorandum.
The party has demanded that work be undertaken on war footing to open road links to disaster affected areas and that basic facilities be restored in such areas.
The account of funds received and spent following the disaster should be released.
The villages destroyed in the disaster should be relocated and residents rehabilitated without delay after a fresh survey to draft a fresh list of villages in need of rehabilitation as the government list of 300 villages is incomplete. If the Government fails to act on these demands, the CPI (Ml) has threatened to start a Statewide agitation from November 8.