House damage aid eludes cyclone victims

Begunia: Many cyclone-affected villagers in Begunia block here are still living under polythene sheds and makeshift huts as the administration has failed to provide them house damage assistance.

The poor villagers have put forth their grievances before the administration several times but to no avail.

The villagers claimed that cyclonic storm Fani had damaged hundreds of kutcha houses in several gram panchayats under Begunia block.

However, many cyclone-affected families have been denied house damage assistance provided by the government due to faulty survey by the officials.

Besides, the administration has failed to provide house damage assistance to all families, included in the list of cyclone victims, sources said.

As a result, many cyclone-affected villagers are still struggling to repair their damaged house.

As per official data, the summer storm had damaged 700 kutcha houses in panchayats under Begunia block. Till date, the administration has provided house damage assistance to only 200 cyclone-affected villagers.

“The cyclone had damaged our thatched house. My name was included in the list of cyclone victims. However, the administration is yet to provide me the house damage assistance. We have been living in our damaged house by using a polythene sheet as roof,” said Mamata Biswal of Botalama gram panchayat.

Begunia tehsildar Vivekanand Parida said they are taking steps to provide house damage assistance to 200 cyclone victims within a couple of days. “All the cyclone victims would be provided with the assistance in phased manner,” he added.

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