Not all victims received relief— Four village councils

Dimapur, Sep. 3 (EMN): Four village councils under Chuchuyimlang EAC administrative circle have reiterated their earlier claim that some of the victims of natural calamities that occurred in 2015 and 2016 have not received any relief from the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) or the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).

The chairmen of Chuchuyimlang Village Council, Salulamang Village Council, Yaongyimti Village Council (Old), and Yaongyimti Village Council (New) issued a joint statement on Tuesday claiming that 32 victims of the 2016 cyclonic storm in Chuchuyimlang village, whose farms, barns and tree plantations were damaged to a great extent; and three families in Yaongyimti village, whose houses were gutted by fire, have not received any relief till date.

“The village councils appreciate the commissioner and secretary (published in local dailies on August 28) for prompt response in seeking to clarify on the ambiguous correspondence documents of the department concerned for issuing/disbursing the relief rice.

“However, the councils affirm that we are neither confused with the regular relief provided under SDRF sanctioned by the government of India nor construing any relief in lieu of SDRF. The four village councils and victims of the natural calamities are confounded and annoyed by the ambiguous documents to issue the 50 kg bag of rice to the victims, as they categorically bore the names of NSDMA and Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) which, we believe, are two distinct entities,” read the statement.

They expressed appreciation to the chief minister for the relief provided to them.  “However, we have resolved not to accept the relief till such time the relief is provided by the NSDMA/SDRF since it is more than a year after the incident happened on May 9, 2018.”

Though the department concerned might have ‘sanctioned for disbursal as stated by the commissioner and secretary’, the ‘victims of the 2018 calamity’ have not received any relief till date, it stated.

“Further, though some of the 2016 victims at Chuchuyimlang have received relief of INR 3000 and below, 32 victims of the same 2016 calamity from Chuchuyimlang village alone have claimed that they have not received any relief till date.

“While some of the names of these victims along with the nature and extent of damage were submitted by the Chuchuyimlang Village Council to the district administration, documents seeking relief by some of the victims were directly processed by the district administration. In this regard, it cannot be said that all the victims of 2018 have already been provided relief,” it added.