New Delhi: No non-governmental organisation has been entrusted to carry out relief work in the state, the Manipur government said Wednesday, strongly countering the European Union’s (EU) announcement that it would send its partners 250,000 euros to help victims of a severe hailstorm that hit early May.
In a statement, Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi said no relief was undertaken by the European Union (EU) and its humanitarian partners in the state. He said all financial requirements in connection with the recent storm were being met from the available National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
“No NGOs or civil society organisations have been entrusted to carry out the relief work. A sum of Rs 30 crore has already been sanctioned by the state government to the deputy commissioners of the concerned districts,” the chief secretary added in the statement. Joshi explained that any reports of assistance made by the European Union were “totally false and untrue”.
Joshi’s rebuttal came after the EU announced Wednesday that it had made the fund available to its humanitarian partner — Adventist Development & Relief Agency India (ADRA) — to “prioritise the distribution of food and emergency shelter kits to help affected people”.
The ADRA will carry out the relief works in the state, with the aim of benefitting “1,500 most vulnerable families”, the EU said.
ThePrint reached the Delegation of the European Union to India and Bhutan and the ADRA via email. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
The EU release said the severe hailstorm had “struck large swathes of Manipur, causing extensive damage to over 48,000 houses, a number of infrastructure and agricultural lands and crops across 16 districts”.
It added that the money (around Rs 2.2 crore) would “prioritise the distribution of food and emergency shelter kits to help affected people whose livelihoods and/or houses have been damaged by the storm. This will help communities to cope with the impact of the storm on their livelihood and to restore their houses”.
The EU also said the funding was made available via the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), a department of the European Commission headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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