Sabirhusain Adambhai Sandhi, a victim of riots in the area in 2002, has been waiting for his cheque of compensation for more than one month.
Sabirhusain Adambhai Sandhi, a resident of Sutharwado in Rakhial and victim of riots in the area in 2002, has been waiting for his cheque of compensation for more than one month.
"According to information given by a deputy collector of Ahmedabad, two cheques amounting to Rs1.55 lakh were sent through registered post on two different dates in June. However, none of them has reached me yet," says Sandhi. "I have been visiting Salatwado on a daily basis, hoping that the cheque might have been addressed there. However, no satisfactory answer has been received," he said. This is why Sandhi and three more riot victims have served legal notice on the city mamlatdar office. "I had been to collectorate several times, but in vain," he said.
Sandhi is not the only victim of mistakes committed by the city mamlatdar office in despatching the cheques, either on wrong address or with spelling mistake in names of victims in cheques.
Take the case of Nasirbhai Hajiali Baksh, whose name is quoted as Nasirbhai Hajiali Bakat; he will have to wait till the error is rectified by the city mamlatdar office. "Due to the error in surname, our bank refused to accept the cheque," said Banobibi, wife of Nasir Baksh.
Touts are said to be out to exploit the situation to their advantage. "They are playing an active role in getting the errors rectified in a short period at the mamlatdar office," said Iqbal Sheikh, a Congress corporator from Gomatipur.
Generally, it takes around two months to rectify any error in the cheques. But the touts claim that they can get it done within a fortnight, and charge around 10% of the compensation amount as their commission, he said. Sandhi also said that he had come to know about such touts, but nobody had contacted him.
The city mamlatdar, Mamta Sojitra, denied any possibility of agents in her office.
She said that they had a prepared proforma to receive complaints from riot victims regarding mistakes in address and name.
Talking about spelling mistakes in the names of riot victims on compensation cheques, she said, "There are around 12,000 cheques to be despatched; so there could be some error in typing the names of victims." However, the department was making sure that there were minimum errors, she said.
"Earlier also, there were mistakes in name, but riot victims cleared the cheques with the help of shroffs (money lenders). However, this time cheques are account payee; so they cannot be deposited in banks in case of errors in spelling of names," she said. After receiving a complaint, the mamlatdar office verifies the data in the survey record and rectifies the error within a fortnight, said Sojitra.
According to Sojitra, majority of the riot victims were earlier living in refugee camps, and have now shifted to other places. This could be one of the reasons why addresses turn out to be wrong.
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