Thousands of people living in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits who eagerly waited at MeeSeva centres to apply for ₹10,000 flood relief from Telangana government were left disappointed on Wednesday afternoon after they were informed that the registration for and distribution of the relief is kept on hold till completion of election process in the municipality limits.
The GHMC elections will be held on December 1 and votes will be counted on December 4. The results will be announced after completion of counting of the votes.
From Wednesday morning, people stood in queues for their turn to submit application forms for the flood relief. However, the situation changed in the afternoon.
Model code of conduct
The Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) on Wednesday directed the State government to immediately to put on hold the registration and distribution of the relief to the flood affected families, including depositing ₹10,000 in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries in the twin cities as the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in vogue now.
The GHMC stated that ₹486 crore as flood relief was distributed to 4.86 lakh people from October 20 to November 13 based on house to house enumeration in flood affected areas.
“Subsequently, the families not covered were asked to register at MeeSeva centers, and during the last three days, 2.86 lakh people have submitted their applications through the Mee-Seva centres. Out of this, 1.78 lakh could be verified, and an amount of ₹178 crores was deposited in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. The scrutiny of other applications is under process and will be taken up after MCC is lifted,” as per a press note.
Over 6L families covered
On the whole, 6.64 lakhs families were covered under flood relief in Hyderabad since October 20 and ₹664 crore was distributed.
The registration and distribution of the flood relief to eligible families will resume after completion of the election process in the GHMC area.