AP Govt: Flood aid reached 4 lakh victims in just 15 days

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government announced that it has managed to disburse financial aid to those affected by the recent floods in three working days using a technological approach.

The government has said that the compensation for the flood victims was done in 15 days after the natural disaster struck the State.

Vijayawada floods in September

As many as four lakh households were affected by the devastating floods that struck Vijayawada and surrounding areas in September. The affected areas could not be reached till September 10 and it was not possible to commence any enumeration activities for providing compensation.

However, immediately after the water receded, the Government of Andhra Pradesh set out to disburse compensation in the affected areas.

1,600 teams working in affected areas

The management of aid disbursal is being done through a tech-based solution: a front-end app and a back-end database operating on a hand-held device that could manage the enumeration process. The handheld device was given to the enumeration teams, who then went into the field and commenced this process.

About 1,600 teams fanned out in the affected areas and the entire enumeration was completed in a matter of three working days.

As part of the enumeration, no bank account data was collected. Aadhaar data was collected which was used to validate the bank account details of the beneficiaries.

Timeline of distributing flood relief compensation

September 22: The list of proposed beneficiaries was put up so that they could seek changes or register grievances.

September 24: Rs 602 crores were mobilised and transferred to an online gateway. The bank account data of four lakh households was also integrated through the UPI portal so that the payments could be made instantly. In comparison, the compensation amounts are in far excess of the NDRF norms prescribed.

September 25: The compensation disbursements were successfully transferred, within 15 days from the date of the flood.

‘Fastest disbursal of disaster compensation’

The AP government said that this is the fastest timeline for compensation disbursement in recent times.

“In comparison, when the previous AP government led by Jagan Mohan Reddy managed the compensation process for the Michuang cyclone which struck on December 1, 2023, the compensation was disbursed on May 17, 2024, or over 5.5 months after the event,” the State government said in a release.

On the speedy compensation process, RP Sisodia, special chief secretary (Revenue) said, “Under the leadership of CM Chandrababu Naidu, we were motivated to provide immediate and sufficient compensation. We are happy about this unprecedented speed in disbursing the compensation amounts. We hope our efforts can serve as a successful template for future disaster management initiatives.”