Finish Amphan compensation distribution in 7 days: CM

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed all concerned officials to complete distribution of relief and compensation to those who have been genuinely affected by Super Cyclone Amphan in the next seven days.

While addressing the virtual review meeting, Banerjee enquired about the completion of relief and learnt that only two to three percent of the distribution work is left to be carried out as certain inquiries are crucial for the same.

She said: "The remaining of the distribution should be completed by the next seven days by completing all the necessary inquiries."

The Mamata Banerjee government released compensation for the Amphan-affected people in two phases. In the first one, the affected people were benefited within a week after the cyclone had hit the state causing devastation of property worth Rs 1.02 crore mainly in eight districts including Howrah, East Midnapore, North and South 24-Parganas.

As some mistakes had surfaced in the list of beneficiaries in the first phase, proper steps were taken in correcting the same with BDOs undertaking ground-level inspections.

Around 40,000 applications were received following detailed queries to identify the genuine cases out of which 26,000 were already in the earlier lists while 6,000 more were identified later.

Before preparing the list of beneficiaries in the second phase, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha held a video conference with the concerned District Magistrates on August 1 and a list containing names of Amphan-hit victims were prepared after receiving around 5.70 lakh applications from the districts.