KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government on Thursday initiated the Direct Transfer of Benefit under the Duare Tran programme to those who have been genuinely affected by Cyclone Yaas. Financial assistance worth a few crores has been directly transferred to the bank accounts of about 5,000 beneficiaries.
The DBT started on July 1 and will be completed within the next seven days. According to sources in the state Secretariat, approvals have been given for 60 per cent of the claims made through Duare Tran camps. "On the first day itself, a few crores were been transferred to the bank accounts of 4,685 genuinely affected people," said a senior state government officer.
Sources said the approvals have been given after thorough verification of applications to ensure that not a single genuinely affected person is left out from getting the state government's assistance.
As per the announcement of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Duare Tran camps were organised at every Gram Panchayat for 15 days from June 3 to 18 where affected people turned up physically, without anyone's help or involvement, and dropped an application stating the damage or loss he or she had incurred due to the cyclone. The applications were thoroughly verified from June 19 to 30. Subsequently, the state government initiated giving the compensation from Thursday by directly transferring the benefit to the beneficiary's bank account.
A robust mechanism, including geotagging of the location where the damage had taken place, was followed to verify the claims.
Earmarking an immediate relief of Rs 1,000 crore after the devastation caused by Cyclone Yaas, the Chief Minister had directed that not a single affected person should remain deprived of the government's assistance.
Applications were received by holding camps at the grassroots level in the cyclone-affected districts — North and South 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapore and Howrah. Camps were also held at Hooghly's Chinsurah and Birbhum's Murarui, which were affected by tornadoes during the cyclone.