A 55-year-old woman standing in a queue outside a ‘MeeSeva’ citizen centre here on Wednesday to apply for the governments financial assistance as part of flood relief collapsed and later died while being shifted to a hospital, police said. Though her relatives immediately took her to a nearby hospital, doctors declared her brought dead, a police official said, adding her kin said she was suffering from a heart problem.
Serpentine queues were witnessed during the past two days at ‘MeeSeva’ centres here with hundreds of people thronging to apply for financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to flood-affected families being distributed by the Telangana government. Police were seen regulating the huge crowds of women and men outside the MeeSeva centres.
However, the applicants seemed to have little concern over the COVID-19 safety norms. The disbursal of the amount had started after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on October 19 announced Rs 10,000 as immediate relief to each flood-affected household in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
As many as 70 people died in rain related incidents in and around Hyderabad and across Telangana in October, with Hyderabad witnessing one of the worst deluges in recent times following unprecedented downpour in over a century. The government had recently announced that flood-affected families who were yet to get the financial assistance can apply at MeeSeva centres (which provide public services to citizens)and the amount would be transferred directly into the bank accounts of the eligible applicants.
Earlier, the financial aid was done by distributing cash. Some residents of flood-affected areas had also held protests earlier, alleging that the money was distributed to only a few people.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission (SEC) in a notification instructed the government to put on hold the registration and distribution of relief to the flood affected families in GHMC limits until declaration of poll results as it was a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Polls for the civic body will be held on December 1 and counting of votes will be taken up on December 4.
As soon as the news of suspension of financial assistance by the SEC came out, people at some places protested.
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