To
The Chief
Secretary Date-
9.4.20
Govt.
of Odisha
Bhubaneswar
Sub- Requiring transparency in implementation of various relief packages declared
by Chief Minister, Odisha and Prime Minister for
the suffering people
during lockdown period.
Sir
We, the RTI Activists and Members of
Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan express deep
concern over the system of opaque maintained so far
in the implementation of
various schemes and programme meant for
poor people in our
state.
1. That, On 26.3.20., the Central Government declared Rs. 1.7 lakh crore relief
packages under Pradhanmantri Garibi
Kalyan Yojana ( PMGKY) for the
poor to help them fight war
against Corona virus. The packages
are as follows.
·
5 kg
wheat or rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses for free every month for the next
three months to 80 crore people.
·
An ex-gratia
of Rs 1,000 to 3 crore poor senior citizen, poor widows and poor disabled.
·
Front-load
Rs 2,000 paid to farmers in first week of April under existing PM Kisan Yojana
to benefit 8.7 crore farmers.
·
get Rs 500 per month for next three months to 20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders.
·
Central
Government has given orders to State Governments to use Building and
Construction Workers Welfare Fund to provide relief to Construction Workers.
2.
Three days
back, I came across a press
release dt. 7.4.20 of Ministry
of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Govt. of India
that FCI has already released
food grains to all the states including Odisha under
Pradhan Mantri Garibi kalyan Anna Yojana . Many states like UP, Bihar,
Telangana, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Mizoram have already started lifting foodgrains from FCI under this scheme. It has not mentioned whether Odisha has lifted
foodgrains or not. Similarly . We observe at
field level that
free food grains and one kg pulses per
household under PMGKY is not
distributed to the people
in our state . We are in
state of
confusion whether the Central
Govt. has released fund
for distribution of free
pulses to the NFSA
beneficiaries in the state. The daily Press
briefing by Mr. Subrat Bagchi does not cover
any information about this
scheme. So , we request you to
clarify the people
of Odisha and
remove confusion in the mind of the people
during your daily
press briefing whether the State
Govt. has received food-grains (
rice and wheat) and
fund for pulses or pulses from Govt. of
India and timing fixed
for its distribution
or rejection of this scheme, if any such
decision taken by Govt. so
far. So that it
will enforce transparency
by way of sensitizing the people
and reposing faith on Govt. .
The ominous silence
of the Spokesperson about
this central relief package does not
sound good.
3.
Similarly,
the state Govt. is silent over distribution of ex-gratia of Rs 1,000 to poor
senior citizen, poor widows and poor disabled and payment of Front-load Rs 2,000 to farmers in first week of April under
existing PM Kisan Yojana . The Govt.
must clarify and inform the people
whether fund has been released
to State Govt. and timing
distribution of the said
amount to the beneficiaries.
This information can be shared
in press meet addressed by Mr. Bagchi.
4.
After around 15 days of declaration
of lockdown, the Govt. through dealers has
started distributing rice for
NFSA beneficiaries in the Gram Panchayats and Municipalities. But
rice
has not yet reached majority of the
people due to various administrative reasons. Many times, the dealers complaint
that they are running out of
stock. Door-step delivery is not
properly executed . the people are
forced for miles to go to
get rice from dealers.
Nobody could guess
how long this phase of distribution of rice
will be over. But the whole system moves without any transparency
in terms of quantity
of rice lifted, allotted and distributed by the
dealers. It is apprehended that the Secrecy
in lifting of quantity
of rice by Transport
agent, allotment of quantity of rice to dealers may lead to corruption , black-marketing of food –grains etc. We urge
you that the information about lifting and distribution of foodgrains needs
to be shared in press briefing in every day and put it in website, exhibit at
notice board of Gram panchayat
office for the
knowledge of the public. The list
of beneficiaries ,
daily-wise details of rice distributed
and no. of beneficiaries provided
rice should be displayed at GP
notice board at the end of the day
and related documents must be
kept open for
public inspection. So that It
will not only enforce
transparency , but check
corruption and ensure
accountability and increase credibility
of the Govt.
5.
In
respect of distribution Rs. 2,000/- per labourer
from Construction labourers’
welfare Board, the
Govt. is yet to start
distribution of this money in the
state. We suggest
that the Govt. should
adopt policy of Direct
Cash Transfer the amount to the
account of all labourers
which is already available
with the Board. Cash distribution will
no doubt perpetuate corruption and loot
of money. It may invite
chaotic situation. We request
the Govt. that the list
of beneficiaries in urban local bodies, district-wise
and Block-wise must be made
available in public domain to cross
check the information and distribution of money
to each of them for greater transparency
and accountability.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Pradip Pradhan
State Convener
Sanjukta Panigrahi
Srikant Pakal
Sri Akhand
Prasant Routray
Jitendra Sahu
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