Islanders shun 'joke' tsunami aid

By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta

Charity Champion (right) was awarded two rupees

Villagers in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands have refused to accept tsunami compensation that they say continues to be "paltry".

Last month, an inquiry was launched into payments as low as two rupees (less than five US cents) for tsunami damage.

Now villagers are refusing compensation ranging between 100 to 200 rupees.

Thousands of islanders were killed in the 26 December tsunami in which many survivors were made homeless.

'Joke compensation'

India's central government promised millions of dollars in aid to the Andamans after the tsunami.

The federal government has sent a huge amount of money to compensate the victims, so why is the local administration paying such meagre amounts? Manoranjan Bhakta, Andaman MP

Tribal spokesmen said the government kept victims waiting for three months, then provided "joke" compensation.

Charity Champion, from Champin village in the Nancowrie islands in the south of the archipelago, received a cheque for two Indian rupees for damage to her coconut trees.

Now. in northern Andaman islands, villagers are refusing compensation ranging from 100 to 200 rupees.

The island administration has published a list of villages whose residents have not yet picked up their compensation.

Janeth Mewa and 46 other villagers have been sanctioned 8,650 rupees ($201) - at 184 rupees ($4) for every person - for more than three acres of prime farmland damaged by sea water.

AS Malik and 20 other villagers have been allotted over 5,000 rupees ($116) - at 238 rupees ($5) for every person - for their damaged farms.

'Inexplicable'

Shankar and 23 others at Chouldhari, one of the worst affected areas in the central Andamans, have received 118 rupees ($2.74) for their six acres of farm land.

Local officials say the value of the land which had been damaged by sea water would range between quarter to half a million rupees.

"The administration is playing a cruel joke with these hapless victims. The callous and insensitive officials should be punished," said Bishnupada Ray, a former member of the parliament from Andamans.

Many people lost everything in the tsunami

The present member of the parliament, Manoranjan Bhakta, has also criticised the local administration for the low payouts.

"The federal government has sent a huge amount of money to compensate the victims, so why is the local administration paying such meagre amounts? There must be an investigation," he said.

Environmentalist Samir Acharya, who heads the Andamans-based Society for Andaman-Nicobar Ecology (Sane), echoed the same sentiment.

"You deserve a hundred rupee compensation if you break a window pane or two, not if you lose several acres of land to the sea."