File picture of Jagatsinghpur district post the super-cyclone in 1999.

Paradip, July 30: Twelve years after the super-cyclone, the Jagatsinghpur district administration has finally woken up to settle the ‘contentious’ ex-gratia claims of bereaved families who had lost their near and dear ones.

Entangled in bureaucratic red-tape and a series of court proceedings, compensation claims of nearly 2,000 persons who lost their near and dear ones on October 29 and 30, 1999 still remain unsettled.

“Claims of compensation will be either accepted or rejected on merit basis and in accordance with guidelines framed jointly by the state and central government. All the cases will be settled by August 25. The process to expedite the settlements has already been set in motion. The tehsildars and block development officers have been issued directions to put to an end the process within the deadline,” said Narayan Chandra Jena, collector, Jagatsinghpur.

Several factors had led to the ex-gratia imbroglio. Majority of claimants were not armed with documentary proof to corroborate that their relatives were cyclone victims. Some people had approached the Orissa High Court in this regard. Besides, administrative officials are preoccupied with Posco steel project related and consequent law and order situation leading to delay in compensation settlement, Jena added.

“The settlement process is cumbersome due to foolproof identification of legal heirs of the victims. However, we are ensuring that not a single genuine beneficiary is left,” said Vasudev Pradhan, tehsildar, Kujang.

The government had announced Rs 75,000 ex-gratia compensation to bereaved families in the aftermath of the super-cyclone. While Rs 50,000 were to be paid from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund (PMRF), the remaining amount will be drawn from the chief minister’s relief fund.

The cyclone that hit on 29 and 30 October 1999, had accounted for 7,090 human casualties. As many as 1,308 villages scattered across the eight blocks, along with two municipalities, had borne the brunt of nature’s fury.

Though reconstruction and restoration work undertaken by both the government and private agencies has restored order in the ravaged human settlements, the human toll due to cyclone is still shrouded in controversy. As per the preliminary estimate by the then district administration, the toll was placed at over 10,000.

Later the figure climbed down to 7,090 as many of the casualty report was found to be not genuine. As human greed took the centre-stage in the calamitous hours, the district administration was virtually flooded with claims of death of their near ones.

As many as 29,000 death certificates, the majority of which were forged, were dropped at the district administration headquarters for ex-gratia doles.

At least six persons had been arrested for making false claim of death of their kith and kin while several others faced criminal proceedings for producing false misleading certificates.