Exclusive report from Nikhat Fatima, Siyasat.net
Hyderabad:Battered and broken with poverty, citizens of Hyderabad, after the heavy floods that occurred last month in October, queued up in front of the Mee Seva centers all over the city, in the hope of receiving the promised aid of Rs.10,000/-.
After the floods the government of Telangana announced Rs.10,000/- to the flood affected people on its part after several individuals and organsiations had done their best to help them.
The appointed leaders distributed the money to the people but amongst them were both the affected ones and those who were not. Many people alleged that the leaders distributed the money even to people whose houses were not damaged in the floods and they were discriminatory as the real victims were still deprived of any relief.
There were also accusations some families got the relief aid twice. After hearing such complaints, Minister K. T. Rama Rao, announced that all those who did not receive the relief aid can apply at mee seva centers (government to citizen and citizen to government online centers).
After this announcement, people rushed to the mee seva centers with their documents all over the city causing long, never ending queues. And since it was supposed to be just for 2-3 days people began queuing up from morning 6 am itself.
These long queues disrupted the traffic, many women in the queues picked up quarrels when someone jumped the queue, and many were people who were not even the victims of the flood. People grew irritated standing for long hours with no food, no water and no toilet facilities either.
In many places the police had to intervene to control the crowd and organize the traffic.
Some people even returned back home unable to bear the thirst and hunger and the ache in the legs.
“When the queue in my area was very long, I asked my mother to stand in the queue while I went to another Mee Seva center with the hope that the queue would be shorter here. But to my dismay the queue here was long as well,” said Saifuddin, a resident of Bazar Guard.
Another person, Omar who is living in his relatives house ever since the floods as his belongings were washed away said, “ The leaders came to our area to distribute the money but I and my family did not get it. Like us there were some others too who did not get. I don’t know if they did not have enough money that day or they gave to whoever they wanted to and left.”
“I tried to submit the form in the Mee Seva center but some women quarreled and assaulted each other after which the police came and closed down the Mee Seva center. I don’t think I will ever get any relief from the government.” He added disappointedly.
One woman named Munawarunisa aged 56 years, resident of Hakeempet, fell down after having been waiting in the queue for more than 3 hours in Golkonda area. And by the time she was taken to the nearest hospital she was dead.
Many people also found this move of the government a strategy to buy votes in view of the GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Elections) which have been announced to be conducted on December 1st while the scheduled time was January 2021.
An activist Padma said, “Women are coming with their children to stand in the queue. There is no social distancing. This announcement by the government has forced the people to expose themselves to the risk of COVID”.
The Mee Seva centers were also charging the people Rs.200 per head while some were charging Rs.100/- and some Rs.50/- as their fees while the actual fees is Rs.45/-. The centers may have witnessed at least 1000 customers per day.
On hearing about the death of Munawarunissa, some people realized that life was far more precious than Rs.10,000/- and went back home as the wait time kept increasing every time the server of the Mee Seva was down.
While some people felt that this lining up at the mee seva center for compensation was all wrong. “ There are several people in these queues who have not been affected by the rains while the deserving people who have already suffered are now once more suffering by standing for such long hours with no food and water” lamented Ayesha from Towlichowki.
On the 3rd day that is 19th November the Telangana Election Commission took notice of this and halted the distribution of the relief till GHMC elections. Following this order the cops began closing down the Mee seva centers disappointing many people who had waited from long to reach the counter.
Now the people are not sure if we will get the money after the elections because they also knew that this amount was being given to win their confidence and get them to vote for TRS – the ruling party.
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