The East Midnapore district administration, busy battling Covid-19, is in a fix as the state government has asked it to submit by July 22 (Wednesday) fresh photographs of damaged homes with owners standing in front of them.

The order, which the district administration received late last week, also sought precise details of each beneficiary — names and addresses — who had been disbursed the government’s home repair or rebuild dole following the ravages of Cyclone Amphan.

District disaster management official Mrityunjay Haldar said what officials at state secretariat Nabanna sought was a part of the usual due diligence adopted by the government after disbursement of compensation.

On why the state home department wants photographs of people in front of their damaged homes, a senior officer said the state had received reports that many fake pictures of damaged houses had been used to claim Amphan dole earlier.

However, block officials who are verifying the dole claims afresh in the wake of the “bias and corruption” uproar, doubted if they could meet the July 22 deadline.

Even Halder admitted that it could take more time.

In East Midnapore, over 200 illegible beneficiaries returned Rs 20,000 each that they had received as compensation. Among six lakh initial claimants, roughly 70,000 have been given full and partial doles. The rest of the claims are under review.

A block official said they had a lot of work to do. “Sending fresh photographs to Nabanna within July 22 might prove a bit difficult,” he said.
Agreed Tamluk administrator Rabindranath Sen: “We will need more time to complete a task of this scale.”

An officer said that during initial submissions, many people showed pictures of damaged cowsheds, garages, or even other people’s homes to claim Amphan cash relief. That’s why genuine photographs are crucial, he said.

Opposition parties lashed out at Trinamul’s “incompetence”. “If officials had properly verified claims from the start, all this would never have happened. People are being harassed,” said CPM district secretary Niranjan Sihi. “We want penal steps against those responsible for dole irregularities,” said BJP district vice-president Pralay Pal.