Dears, The Navhind Times on 10/10/2009 reported on page 2 thus "GXE for scientific study on reasons for floods." Datelined MARGAO the report reads thus "Goenchea Xetakarancho Ekvott (GXE) has demanded that, in the long term interest of the residents of Canacona, *the government carry out a scientific study of geological, climatic and other reasons for the recent unprecedented floods* that took place recently." The GXE activist/spokesman quoted in the report is Abhijit Prabhudesai.
The report ends with the paragraph "It [GXE] also wanted the relief and rehabilitation measures to be completely transparent, based on physical verification of the losses and in *accordance with the wishes of the victims *and that *the Chief Minister take personal interest to ensure that the relief and rehabilitation reaches the intended receipients*." The page 1 of the same newspaper has this report: Floods caused loss of Rs 131 crore: report<http://www.navhindtimes.in/news/goa-news/3915-floods-caused-loss-of-rs-131-crore-report> Written by NT Network Friday, 09 October 2009 01:06 · PANAJI: The *Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat* on Thursday announced that the report compiled by various departments of the government has put the losses due to flash floods in Canacona at Rs 131 crore, even as he said that all the cabinet ministers decided to donate their two months salaries to the *Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to help the victims and rehabilitate them*. He announced that the government officials have been deputed to *seek consent of the affected people for rebuilding their houses* and work on reconstructing the houses could begin as early as Monday (October 12) if the people agreed. The Chief Minister further said that he would submit the report to the *Union home ministry* and copies of the same would also be submitted to the office of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi besides in the office of the *National Disaster Management Authority*. The Union government would sanction the relief after the central team’s visit to the state to verify and submits its report. Mr Kamat also said the agriculture director has been directed to work out modalities to help the farmers who lost their crops and that the government’s efforts would be *to give compensation before the festive season of Diwali* just over a week away. He also said the cabinet also appreciated the efforts of the South Goa collector and the superintendent of police besides other officials for their tireless work in providing relief to the affected people. Stating that the Panchayat Minister, Mr Manohar Azgaonkar has also announced that Rs 25,000 and Rs 12,500 each would be given to the families whose houses were totally damaged or partially damaged for constructing and repairing the houses respectively the houses under Rajiv Awas Yojana in rural areas, while in urban areas similar funds would be provided by the urban development department, which would also give a grant of Rs 50 lakh to the Canacona municipal council for implementing a rehabilitation scheme. Meanwhile, a* committee headed by Dr S R Shetye, the director of National Institute of Oceanography and consisting Dr Sulochana Gadgil of Indian Institute of Sciences (Bangalore), Dr D Shankar of NIO, Mr K V Singh of Indian metrological department, Mr Sandip Nadkarni, chief engineer of water resources department, Mr Ashok Menon, acting director of fire and emergency services department and Mr Michael D’Souza, director of science, technology and environment department, as member secretary has been formed to study the cause of floods, said the Chief Minister*. ........................................................... There seems to be a great deal of convergence between the GXE activist's 'demand' and the CM 'supply' ... all on the same day. The CM will be the Diwali avatar of Santa Claus in Canacona ...and all the bad boys will keep awake and in high spirits celebrating the hero of the bad boys "Narak Asura", as is the new tradition in Goa. On the other hand, the routine administrative procedure for "Calamity Relief" is laid down by the Ministry of Home, GoI, thus: *Constitution and Administration of the Calamity Relief Fund http://nidm.gov.in/Calamity%20Relief%20Fund4.asp* *National Institute of Disaster Management [NIDM], GoI Ministry of Home Affairs.* * Funding mechanisms *The policy and the funding mechanism for provision of relief assistance to those affected by natural calamities is clearly laid down. These are reviewed by the Finance Commission appointed by the Government of India every five years. The Finance Commission makes recommendation regarding the division of tax and non-tax revenues between the Central and the State Governments and also regarding policy for provision of relief assistance and their share of expenditure thereon. *A* *Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) has been set up in each State as per the recommendations of the Eleventh Finance Commission.* 8.1 *A State-level Committee (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Committee’) shall be constituted by the State Government to administer the Fund, by issue of a suitable notification in this behalf.* 8.2 The *Chief Secretary of the State shall be the ex-officio Chairman of the Committee*. The Committee would consist of officials who are normally connected with relief work and experts in various fields in the State affected by natural calamities. The Committee will be nominated by the State Government. *Where the calamity is of such proportion that the funds available in the CRF will not be sufficient for provision of relief, the State seeks assistance from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) - a fund created at the Central Government level.* Only the GBA wants the Local Self-Government institutions like the Village Panchayats and the specific Sector 17 "Natural Calamities" Ward Devp. Committees, to be involved. Others are happy to see the CM and Minister distribute the goodies, less than 6 months from the scheduled Zilla Panchayat elections in March, 2010. The former Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru had said, "*Goa ke log ajeeb hain*" . They have not changed one bit! Mog asundi Miguel -- -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Miguel Braganza, S1 Gracinda Apts, Rajvaddo, Mhapsa 403507 Goa Ph 9822982676 [email protected] -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
