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January 03, 2024 10:00 pm | Updated January 04, 2024 06:41 am IST – Chennai
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Rice cardholders who are not taxpayers or employees of State and Central governments were handed the cash on producing the token they were given. FILE PHOTO | Photo Credit: The Hindu
Greater Chennai Corporation has started verifying applications for Cyclone Michaung relief, but some officials in the civic body allege that staff shortage and not fixing a specified deadline are likely to hamper the process. The verification began on December 29 across all 15 zones simultaneously, according to a senior official in the Revenue and Finance Department (R&F) of the Greater Chennai Corporation.
The Tamil Nadu government distributed ₹6000 cash relief to families affected by flood during Cyclone Michaung in Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, and Chengalpattu districts from December 22. As per the public distribution system officials, rice cardholders who are not taxpayers or employees of the State and Central governments are directly eligible for the assistance and were handed the cash on producing the token they were given earlier. As for taxpayers and white card i.e. sugar cards and non-commodity cardholders, they were asked to fill an application form specifying if their premises were inundated, or if they faced any damages or their livelihood was affected, along with their name, address and bank details.
The verification process will be either through a phone call or physical inspection by zonal-level officials of the local body — Corporation, municipality or panchayat.
Govindaraj, 65, a shopkeeper in Manali said, “Officials arrived on December 29 and took pictures of my house and documents. They assured me that the State government will hand over the relief money soon, but did not give me a specific date.”
To a question on whether the staff were handling both daily work and the verification process, another official in the department requesting anonymity said, “Yes, we manage everyday activities related to property tax and the application verification process together. Sometimes we set aside daily work. There is also a staff crunch. But, we were told to do it on a war footing, so we are adjusting to the additional work with the existing strength of officials. We were not given any last date for completing enquiries so far.” This concern was echoed by a few other field and zonal-level officials.
Further, a senior official in the department stated that a letter of communication was sent to the zonal and field-level officials detailing the verification procedure. However, the latter claimed to have only received oral instructions.
According to both zonal and field officials, a team of three individuals for one PDS outlet, who may be junior engineers, license inspectors, revenue inspectors, tax collectors, or tax assesses of the GCC, can verify anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 applications in a day. No hassles with regard to demarcation were reported so far, officials said.
The field staff, operating during regular office hours i.e. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, were told to check the documents submitted by the applicants and upload the details in the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) app, to which they were offered a login ID from the State Informatics Officer, National Informatics Centre (NIC), an agency which is a member of TNeGA, stated zonal officers and the senior official of the Greater Chennai Corporation.
One zonal official, stating that the zone has roughly 42,000 applications to process, alleged that they had a daily target of 1,500 applications for enquiry, while others denied being given any target. A field staff claimed, “If the app loads faster, we will be able to upload details of more applications and less, if it is slow. It is not fixed. It can be 1,000 on one day or 2,000 on another.”
A zonal official added, “In case there are no residents present in the house, we will attempt re-verification in the next round.”
The senior official in the R&F Department said snags would be sorted out soon as the process started just a few days ago.
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