HC ORDERS TO PROVIDE FLOOD RELIEF TO VICTIMS

The Telangana High Court on Tuesday asked the state government for an explanation after a PIL complained that ex gratia payment was not provided under the provisions of the National Disaster Management Agency’s Minimum Standards of Relief to the victims who lost their crops and belongings to the recent rains in the state.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was dealing with the PIL filed by Cheruku Sudhakar, who said that the government had the bounden duty under several provisions of the Disaster Management Act to provide drinking water, food and shelter and compensation to the victims.

Chikkudu Prabhakar, counsel for the petitioner, furnishing several news reports, submitted that the situation in some of the some rain-affected villages was grave as the victims were not able to get drinking water and food.

Asking for a direction to the state government to release the ex gratia amount to victims, he put forward a judgment of the Supreme Court which had directed the Uttarkhand government to provide compensation.

The bench was not inclined to issue a similar order and said that the Supreme Court had issued the orders in a special case, where most of the villages were inundated for months together.

The court sought information from the government about providing basic amenities to the victims. It sought details about the relief work done during and after the incessant rainfall that occurred two weeks ago.