Irregularities found in distribution of flood relief material

PATNA: Irregularities have been found in the distribution of government flood relief materials in at least a dozen flood-hit districts of north Bihar. Similarly, questions are also being asked on foreign donor agencies over their mechanism to distribute relief materials among the poor and downtrodden people.
The state government has no mechanism to control on the foreign donor agencies to monitor their relief distribution operations.At least 20 international donor agencies are currently working in Bihar on flood relief and rehabilitation programmes in more than a dozen flood hit districts.
CPI(ML-TND) leader Umadhar Prasad Singh, who is also MLA from Hayaghat assembly constituency has sent several letters to the government officials as regards to the huge bungling in the distribution of relief materials in Hayaghat, Hanuman Nagar and Bahadurpur blocks of Darbhanga districts. The flood victims are yet to get their cash amount for purchasing essential food items till date in several blocks of Darbhnaga districts, Singh alleged.
"I have already communicated to the chief secretary as well as the relief commissioner for such lapses in the distribution of relief materials", he said.
According to a rough estimate, more than Rs five crore have already been pumped in the state particularly in Madhubani and Darbhanga districts as a flood relief materials.
Foreign agencies distribute relief materials through their respective NGO partners spread over in various parts of the district. "A single NGO working in flood-hit districts is found receiving huge amount from couple of different foreign donor agencies simultaneously in the name of flood relief distribution materials", said a senior government official.
Citing example, an official disclosed that a particular NGO which has been blacklisted by the X donor agency, has been receiving huge amount by another Y agency. "NGOs have been hugely benefited by the total lack of coordination among all the donor agencies which has made them (read NGO) a real rich and prosperous", said an official.
"The real beneficiary of the flood victim are foreign funding aided NGOs working in flood hit districts", said an aggrieved NGO of Madhubani district.
Only recently, a Madhubani based organisation "Lok Shakti Sangathan (LSS)" has mobilised local people by organising a series of dharna programmes at Madhepur, Lakhnaur, Jhanjharpur blocks in Madhubani district demanding to maintain total transperancy in the on-going flood relief distribution programme.
LSS convenor Deepak Bharati also admitted that flood hit people are getting a meagre 20 to 22 kg of foodgrains out of allotted 25 kg per head. Such is being done in almost all the panchayats of four blocks of Madhubani district.
Chief secretary K A H Subramanian has also directed the district officials to personally monitor the relief distribution in their respective districts. The government will not tolerate any kind of lapses in the distribution of relief materials, he added.