Budameru flood victims eagerly wait for compensation

Vijayawada : Thousands of Budameru flood victims in Vijayawada are eagerly waiting to get compensation announced by the State government for the damage caused by floods.

Budameru flash floods inundated scores of colonies in 32 municipal divisions in Vijayawada on September 1. Thousands of houses submerged and traders, small entrepreneurs, artisans, mechanics, carpenters, welding shops, printing presses, grocery shop owners, restaurants and others suffered huge loss.

The government conducted enumeration and recently started payment of compensation. The government has announced Rs 25,000 to the houses submerged in the floodwater. It announced compensation of Rs 10,000 for house located on the first floor above portions that have submerged.

A sum of Rs 10,000 has also been announced for partially submerged homes. Compensation for grocery shops and restaurants Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 has been announced for small scale industries with investment below Rs 40 lakh.

A sum of Rs 1 lakh has been announced for small scale industries with investment between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 1 crore and Rs 1.5 lakh for small scale industries which made investments above Rs 1.5 crore.

The government announced compensation of Rs 3,000 for a two-wheeler, Rs 10,000 for auto-rikshaw, Rs 20,000 for push cart and Rs 25,000 for artisans. The enumeration teams visited the flood-affected areas and the work was completed by September 12.

Till now a large number of flood affected people have not received the compensation. Thousands of vehicles broke down as the colonies were totally flooded and were under four to six feet floodwater for four to five days.

Auto-rickshaw drivers are suffering a lot due to damage of vehicles. For thousands of two-wheeler owners, many parts of the vehicles were damaged.

Every day thousands of people are visiting the ward secretariat offices to enquire about the status of the payment of compensation. In most cases there is no proper information at the ward secretariats. The names and Aadhar numbers submitted by the flood victims are missing in the online data.

M S Rao, a resident of Singh Nagar, said he was disappointed as his name and Aadhar number were missing in the enumeration data and he is worried over being deprived of compensation. On the other hand, every day several hundred people are visiting the office of Central MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao in Ajit Singh Nagar and seeking the help of MLA to get compensation. The MLA office staff is collecting the applications which contain the name, Aadhaar No, house address and details of loss.

These applications are sent to the District Collectorate for verification. Many applicants do not know whether they get compensation or not.

After the Budameru flash floods, a large number of people went to other places due to stagnation of water and there was no power supply and drinking water. They were not present at their homes when enumeration teams visited the house. These people are worried over not getting compensation as they could not submit details.

They are asking the government to extend time for enumeration and do justice.

The State government has announced the details of houses submerged and other losses including vehicles submerged, shops and restaurants that suffered loss. But, the names and Aadhaar numbers of the flood victims are surprisingly missing in the online data. Though the names and Aadhaar details were collected at the time of enumeration there is no proper information at the ward secretariats on payment of compensation.