Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said 0.5 per cent of people “took advantage” of the situation and 6,000 beneficiaries who were deprived will now get the compensation for damages caused during Cyclone Amphan.
“We had received 40,000 applications of which names of 26,000 beneficiaries were already enlisted with the district magistrate, 6,000 applications were rejected as they were found to be false and 6,000 have been selected. These 6,000 beneficiaries will now receive the compensation. The district magistrate has been asked to distribute the aid by holding camps within three days,” said Miss Banerjee at a Press Conference in Nabanna today.
Assuring that genuine cases would not be deprived, Miss Banerjee said: “Some small mistakes might have occurred at a few places during the administration’s effort to fast-track the compensation payment process”.
“However, 0.5 per cent people took advantage of the situation and a huge politics was done over it. If things come to our knowledge we act immediately. Erstwhile Left Front government never provided any assistance to anyone but now they simply give lectures. A few political parties are indulged in too much of politics over the issue, she added.
Miss Banerjee’s statement came at a time when protests are being held over alleged lapses in the distribution of compensation money to beneficiaries whose houses were damaged in the Amphan cyclone that ravaged the state in mid-May.
A section of the victims and Opposition parties have been alleging that many Trinamul Congress leaders and their relatives received compensation though their houses were not damaged in the cyclone. Miss Banerjee today clarified that there will not be any compromise and victims would not be deprived. The state government had released a total of Rs 6,800 crore as compensation for those whose houses were damaged by Cyclone Amphan.