Jorhat, Oct. 14: Jorhat deputy commissioner Virendra Mittal has created an emergency fund for the "very poor and economically backward" and at times also for small development projects in the district.

The District Development and Relief Fund, the account of which has been opened at the Jorhat branch of the SBI, will be raised through contributions by the people and organisations.

Explaining the initiative, Mittal told The Telegraph today that the fund has been started by him to deal with "certain situations" that emerges all of a sudden and requires money immediately to be given to the economically backward and take the first step to overcome it.

Mittal said a large number people come to the deputy commissioner's office to seek financial assistance. He said a deputy commissioner does not have any allotted government fund that could be released immediately to any person seeking financial assistance.

Mittal said to deal with such situations, the new fund has been created so that some kind of financial aid could be given to any economically-backward person who are in "extreme" financial need.

"There are several government schemes or provisions to extend financial aid to poor and elderly people on medical grounds, but the process to sanction and release these funds takes time, so this fund could be used as required for such situations," Mittal said.

He, however, said granting any assistance will be his sole discretion or whosoever will occupy the post (deputy commissioner) or otherwise the fund - dependent on public contribution - could be exhausted within a short period.

Mittal said the fund would deal with "extreme cases or situations" as otherwise as there was the health and other departments offering lot of services to the poor.

Mittal said once the fund has a considerable amount, the money could be also used for some small or medium-range development projects in the district. He said the response to his new fund has been encouraging from the public with about Rs 3 lakh deposited in the past fortnight.

The deputy commissioner said the first response came from Punjab National Bank (Jorhat branch) with a contribution of Rs 1 lakh.

Mittal said many organisations have assured to contribute to the fund in the coming days. He said people interested to donate to the fund should contact his office. He said only he and the district finance and accounts officer will run the account.

Mittal, under whose initiative last month a public reception counter at the main entrance of his office was opened to help visitors, said such counters will be opened in other government departments.

The May-I-Help-You counter at the deputy commissioner's office has two employees who answer queries of the visitors and provide necessary information like which branch to go, its location and the room number.