Other States - Orissa   

Violence: State yet to clear bills for services

BERHAMPUR: Apart from the natural victims, some others have also been affected by the communal violence that occurred in Kandhamal district.

They are the persons of the district who had helped out the administration by providing their professional service to manage the situation after the communal clash. But they are yet to get their payments. The administration had to take vehicles on rent for the use of CRPF personnel and senior officials who had to move around. Private videographers were also used to shoot the footages of happenings in clash-hit areas although it was quite dangerous. But most of them are yet to get their payments from the administration. It is also alleged that the suppliers who had provided food materials for the relief camps for communal violence victims have also not received their payments. As per officials the bureaucratic process is delaying the payments.

But it is hard for a small-time videographer like P.Simanchal Achari of Baliguda to bear this delay of payment. Out of frustration he smashed one of his cameras in front of the local block office. He was employed by the administration to shoot details of incidents in Baliguda, Barkhama and nearby areas during the tense period of communal tension. As it was not a one man’s job he used other videographers for the work giving them advance payments. “We had to shoot at places from 6 am till midnight,” he said. As per government rate his total bill amount is Rs. 1,02,000. The officials are asking him to keep patience. “But the amount is too big for me and it also involves my investment which I made through loans, so it is affecting my life,” he said.

Similarly Tanuja Das of Baliguda is one of the persons who had given his vehicle on rent to the administration to be used by the CRPF personnel. He is yet to get the bills paid. According to sources, the bills of the petrol provided to vehicles used by the Government during the communal violence and days following, by a petrol pump at Baliguda are yet to be completely cleared.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Tourist inflow into State on the rise
Duruas take pride in their traditional costumes
‘Six lakhs deprived of old-age pension’
Towards community policing
Pilot project to improve attendance in Oriya schools
Water supply needs police intervention in Berhampur!
Teachers plan hunger strike
Violence: State yet to clear bills for services

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu