The delay in paying out financial aid under the Chief Minister’s Relief Against Wage Loss (CRAWL) to thousands of beneficiaries in Meghalaya is simply down to incorrect information provided by those who are meant to receive it.
This was stated by Principal Secretary in the Labour Department, GHP Raju, today and he urged all those who had yet to receive the aid, which was instituted last year during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, to come forward to claim it.
“Go to the nearest Labour office in your respective district, give your credentials and the money will be transferred,” Raju said.
The money under the scheme meant for those who lost their livelihood during the national lockdown in the first wave of Covid-19 is available with the Labour Department.
Those who feel they are eligible must come forward because the Labour Department, ironically, has a manpower constraint. “I have one or two labour officers in each district. If they hhave to verify 10,000 odd accounts it will take time,” he added.
He also appealed to Thma U Rangli-Juki leader Angela Rangad, who has been demonstrating in front of the Secretariat for more than a week now in the workers’ cause, to use the NGO’s network to identify and educate the claimants to come forward and claim the money.
According to Raju, those who applied for the scheme totalled 2.33 lakh. However, after scrutinization, this number was whittled down to 1.81 lakh of genuine claimants; the other 50,000 or so were already beneficiaries of other schemes that made them ineligible for CRAWL.
The list of beneficiaries was sent to the banks with the money and 1.45 lakh claimants received the Rs 2,100 in aid.
However, nearly 33,000 claims could not be processed because there were problems with the details submitted by the beneficiaries with regards to the name on the bank account, account number or sorting code.
In April this year, the Labour Department began reverifying the names and addresses of the beneficiaries who were yet to receive the amount.
“Again, we sent 18,148 names after verification to the banks, but only 2,961 could be cleared,” he added.
Raju also said that the department has now created two helplines, with recording facility.
“We are receiving 300 complaints roughly in a day. The call is recorded and transcribed and placed before the Labour Commissioner for immediate attention,” Raju said.
He also informed that tomorrow he will have a meeting with all the banks entrusted with the job of disbursing the amount and Rangad has also been invited by the government for talks.
