NGOs unhappy over Gujarat Govt. policies

By Manas Dasgupta

BHUJ, AUG. 5. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) together with the CARE-India are among the few NGOs left in the quake-hit Kutch district battling against the Gujarat Government for the rehabilitation of the affected.

The administration is creating hurdles for the voluntary organisations keen on adopting villages and helping the needy. ``We are sitting over money but we are not allowed to work,'' said the FICCI Chairman, Mr. Chirayu Amin, who along with the CARE-India had offered to adopt 30 villages. As many as 21 of the 30 villages earlier allocated to the FICCI-CARE-India have cried out of the scheme because of the Government's change in policy to offer cash compensation in lieu of the constructed houses and the canard spread against the credibility of the NGOs. The FICCI-CARE India, which together formed the FICCI- CARE Gujarat Rehabilitation Project (FCGRP) is hoping that four more villages would return to its fold while the District Collector, Mr. H.N. Chibber, has promised to allocate other villages to the group. But the FCGRP is worried that it may be forced to return the money to the donors if the requisite number of villages were not available . The FCGRP has raised over Rs. 120 crores with more donations in the pipeline to reconstruct about 10,000 houses, community infrastructure and employment and income-generating schemes in 50-50 partnership with the State Government.

But even before the preliminary formalities were over, there had been hiccups. As explained by Mr. Amin, and the FCGRP Co- chairman, Mr. P.M. Sinha, ``frequent change in the Government's policies made us and the people confused''. There had been problems on relocation of the villages, size of plots, size of the houses, earthquake-proof designs, participation of the beneficiaries, etc. The allocation of the villages would not be finalised till after three months of the killer-quake. Then came another blow with the Government shifting the onus of securing approval of 51 per cent of the people in the adopted villages on the NGOs.

A canard was also reportedly spread that the NGOs were trying to dupe the people. ``I was shocked to see the hostility of the people when we went to some villages to seek their approval for taking up the reconstruction activities on their behalf,'' a FCGRP official said. People refused to believe the intentions of the NGOs and decided against taking the FCGRP services.

The sudden decision last month of the Government to distribute cash compensation came as the last blow. As many as 21 villages of the 30 allocated to the FCGRP cried out of the scheme and favoured cash compensation.

Even as the work started in the remaining nine villages, the health and education departments sent circulars on the Government's decision to `delink' social infrastructure, particularly construction of the schools, anganwadis and health centres from the adoption scheme. The schools and health centres would be constructed departmentally unless the NGOs were prepared to meet the cent per cent expenses, the circular said.

``Many of our donors have specifically donated funds for the social infrastructure. If schools and health centres are taken out, our donors will feel unhappy,'' Mr. Sinha said.

Clear signals were sent to the FCGRP at one stage that the Government would prefer the NGOs to withdraw and handover the collected funds to the State administration to implement the schemes departmentally. ``We will rather return the donations to the donors than handing over the funds to the Government,'' Mr. Sinha said.

A London-based CARE official, who was here to attend a ceremony to handover the first six reconstructed houses to the beneficiaries and lay the foundation stone of a school building, was also surprised at the Government's attitude. ``We have the experience to work with many Governments world over and many State Governments in India, but the attitude of the Gujarat Government really surprises us,'' she said.

Mr. Chibber also said there had been ``problems'' in clearing the FCGRP projects, ``but we are confident that these will be sorted out''. While reports from Gandhinagar said the adoption scheme had been finalised for almost all the 350 villages in the district, Mr. Chibber said only 135 had so far been adopted by NGOs. Many other NGOs who initially were keen on adopting villages had withdrawn.

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