After 20 years, widow still awaits ex gratia

The 1999 Super Cyclone snatched away Sulochana Behera’s livelihood and her young daughter’s life.
After 20 years, widow still awaits ex gratia

JAGATSINGHPUR: The 1999 Super Cyclone snatched away Sulochana Behera’s livelihood and her young daughter’s life. Twenty years hence, she is yet to get a dime towards ex gratia from the State Government.

For Sulochana, a resident of Khati Korada under Gadbishnupur panchayat, the wait for compensation has been an unending one. She was one of the lakhs of people whose life was shattered by the most destructive natural disaster ever recorded in the country. Her family’s economic backbone was broken and her 19-year daughter was swallowed by high tides in the cyclone. Though 20 years have passed, she is still waiting for the promised ex gratia.

After a few years of the cyclone, Sulochana lost her husband and is now living with her only son who is unemployed. Hundreds of affected people, who were left-out by the State Government, have received compensation after knocking at the doors of Orissa High Court. But for the widow, judiciary help is out of bounds since she has no money to file a writ petition in the HC.

Kin of around 100 victims of the cyclone victims had moved the HC against the district administration for denying them compensation. The court ordered in favour of the petitioners and directed the district to settle their compensation claims. However, the order was not carried out. After being pulled up by the HC, the district administration has now decided to pay compensation to nearly 2,000 persons who lost their loved ones in the cyclone.

However, there are still hundreds of affected persons who are waiting for aid since the last two decades.
As per official reports, 7,090 persons had died in the Super Cyclone. Unofficially, the death toll was around 10,000. So far, the district administration has provided ex gratia to the families of only 4,261 victims. In the aftermath of Super Cyclone, the State Government had announced `75,000 ex gratia to bereaved families. While `50,000 was provided from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, the rest amount was borne by the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Gadbishnupur sarpanch Sujata Behera said Sulochana lives in a pitiable condition due to lack of money and a house. Recently, she was selected to get a dwelling unit under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana but the widow is yet to start construction work.

Deputy Collector (Emergency) Kalyan Saurav Das said following the directive of HC, nearly 52 cases were considered for compensation. The district administration sent the names of these beneficiaries to Special Relief Commissioner for distribution of ex gratia.Of these, 18 cases were found to be genuine.

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