Image showing flooded streets in Vijayawada due to recent rains.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Hyderabad: The 1,600 teams deployed by the Andhra Pradesh government for the enumeration of loss caused by devastating floods in Vijayawada completed their assignment in a matter of three days, thereby allowing for compensation to be paid to the victims of the disaster.
In a record effort, the Andhra government had earlier deployed 1,600 teams with hand-held devices for loss assessment and the calculation of compensation to be paid to victims.
An estimated four lakh households were affected in the devastiating floods, but assessment could not be carried out until recently as the affected areas could not be accessed until September 10.
However, immediately after the water receded, the government of Andhra Pradesh set about the challenging task of enumeration and managing the compensation disbursement.
A tech-based solution was designed to this end with a front-end app and a back-end database, operating on a hand-held device that could manage the enumeration process. This handheld device was given to the enumeration teams, who then went into the field and commenced the exercise.
About 1,600 teams fanned out in the affected areas and the entire enumeration was completed in a matter of three working days. As part of the enumeration, no bank account data was collected. Instead, Aadhaar data was collected, and this was used to arrive at the validated bank account details of each of the beneficiaries.
On September 22, which was a Sunday, the list of proposed beneficiaries was put up so that they could seek changes or register grievances. On September 24 evening, Rs 602 crore of funds were mobilised and transferred to an online gateway.
The bank account data of four lakh households was also integrated through the UPI portal so that the payments could be made instantly. The compensation amounts are also far in excess of the NDRF norms prescribed.
As of Wednesday, the compensation disbursements were being successfully transferred, and the government has set a timeline of 15 days from the date of the flood for the exercise to be completed. This is the fastest timeline for compensation disbursement in recent times, and Andhra Pradesh has been successfully able to achieve this.
“Under the leadership of Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, we were motivated to provide immediate and sufficient compensation. Our CM led by example during the relief efforts. We are happy about this unprecedented speed in disbursing the compensation amounts. We hope our efforts can serve as a successful template for future disaster management initiatives,” said special chief secretary (revenue) R P Sisodia.