Friday, April 10, 2020

Requiring transparency in implementation of various relief packages on COVID 19



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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