Corruption alleged in govt’s grant for flood-hit farmers
Corrupt elements in the Sindh Revenue Board, particularly the field staff at union council level like tapedars, are demanding undue gratification from the flood-hit farmers for release of grants under the Sindh Farmers Rehabilitation Programme.
Representatives of farmers of the Umerkot district, including Shoaib Arain, Murtaza Rajput, Sata Ram, and Deen Muhammad, have said that the Agriculture Department has started a farmers’ rehabilitation programme in the flood-affected districts.
They demanded of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to issue orders for making the flood damages survey process transparent and to take strict action against the elements involved in corruption.
According to Arain, the revenue officials were to record the losses and send recommendations for grants to cover the losses of the flood-hit farmers. However, the tapedars are allegedly illegally charging a fee of Rs1,000 to Rs2,000 per form, although the actual fee is Rs150 filled through challan at any branch of National Bank of Pakistan.
He said that “rogue officials” tell farmers that if they do not pay up, their forms will not be forwarded for flood relief grants. “The illegal fees are sheer blackmailing,” he added.
Rajput said that according to the figures obtained from the Department of Agriculture Umerkot, around 10,000 application forms have been collected under the Farmers’ Rehabilitation Programme across the district. If even Rs1,000 is collected per form, then amount collected would be around Rs10 million.
Ram said that during the survey, the application form has also been submitted from the house for the payment of heavy bribes. The affected residents of Umerkot have expressed their deep concern and said that during the initiation of the program and during the survey, corruption has been so serious that the money released will become a scam.
The Sindh government has announced a subsidy of Rs5,000 per acre of land for fertiliser for the flood affected settlements and in this regard, teams including tapedars of Revenue and the representatives of the Agriculture Department completed the survey and the statistics obtained have been sent to the provincial government.
The affected residents have demanded to take notice from the Sindh Chief Minister and other rulers and to make the survey process transparent and to take strict legal action against the elements involved in serious corruption.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2022.