The Nainital district administration has not yet been able to utilise even a single penny out of `25 lakh it had received under the Chief Minister Relief Fund (CMRF) for disaster management purpose.
If the figures provided by the office of the Commissioner of Kumaon are any indication, the district administration Nainital could not spend any amount out of `25 lakh it got from the CMRF for carrying out relief works in natural disaster hit areas of the district till November 20, 2013.
More so, as the aforesaid figures suggest out of a total `1,317.28 lakh i.e. `900 from State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) and `25 lakh from CMRF and rest `3,92.28 lakh from other sources, that the district administration received for the same disaster management works, the officials concerned of the Nainital district administration have been able to utilise only `476.97 so far as on November 20, 2013.
It is to add that out of the total utilised fund i.e `476.97 lakh, an amount of `1,55.33 lakh was spent at the district collectorate level, while rest amount worth `321.64 was utilised by different executive agencies, as the figures received from the office of the Commissioner of Kumaon reflect.
So out of a total `1,317.28 lakh i.e. `900 from State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) and `25 lakh from CMRF and rest `3,92.28 lakh from other sources for extending relief works in natural disaster hit areas of the district, an amount of `8,40.31 lakh still remain unutilised with the Nainital district administration.
However, the officials concerned of the Nanital have maintained that efforts are on to expedite the relief operations.
It is worth mention here that though Nainital district remained less affected due to natural disaster this monsoon season as compared to some other hill districts like Pithoragarh and Bageshwar, citizens belonging to different parts particularly hilly areas of the Nainital district faced a tough time suffering loss of life and properties and poor road connectivity.
Apart from damage to houses particularly in hilly areas due to landslides, people had to face loss to their standing crops in plains of Nainital like Haldwani and Ramnagar belt.
Excessive rain only hampered growth of the crops during this monsoon season.
It is to be seen how longs the longs it takes the Nainital district administration to utilise the fund granted for disaster management purpose.