Other States - Orissa   

1 lakh ex gratia for victims of wall collapse

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to extend payment of ex gratia of Rs. 1 lakh to the next of kin of persons dying due to wall collapse or falling of tree on account of heavy rain or strong winds due to cyclonic circulation. Earlier, ex gratia was sanctioned for deaths occurring during reported natural calamities like flood and cyclonic circulation.

“There are seven to eight stages of cyclonic circulation before it becomes a cyclone. But heavy rains can occur at any stage leading to wall collapse or falling of trees. We cannot wait till a natural phenomenon such as cyclone or severe flood to be declared as disaster for providing assistance to poor people,” Special Relief Commissioner Nikunja K. Sundaray said here on Tuesday. The victims of wall collapse were invariably from the poorest sections of the society, who resided in houses made of mud walls and thatched roof, he said.

The recommendation to include such deaths under Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) for payment of ex gratia had been approved by the State Government.

SRC decided to pay compensation retrospectively from September 22, 2007. Since that date, ex gratia could not be paid in as many as 12 cases of death due to wall collapse and tree falling in the districts of Mayurbhanj, Khurda, Cuttack and Kandhamal.

Mr. Sundaray said Orissa could be the first State to announce such assistance in the country. “We are going to verify case by case. In future we will formulate guidelines for extending assistance in case wall collapse,” he said.

Concerned district collectors have been asked to take steps for immediate payment of ex gratia amount to the bereaved families and report compliance.

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

Stories in this Section

New age women still believe in old ways
City boy for world sepaktakraw championship
Rath airlifted to Bengaluru for surgery
Anganwadi workers on warpath
Cannabis destroyed
Kishore Mohanty elected Speaker
1 lakh ex gratia for victims of wall collapse
Three arrested, jeep seized
Seven injured in group clash at Saba
Kandhamal violence: Digal deposes before probe panel
Bid to rob transport firm staff foiled
Probe sought into bauxite mining lease
Two more nursing colleges to be set up in State

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