App launched in J-K's Udhampur to provide immediate relief to natural disaster victims

Udhampur district administration in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday launched a mobile application 'SAKOON- E- AWAAM' with an aim to bring accountability and transparency to settle and disburse compensation to people whose houses were affected due to any natural calamity.

The main aim and objective of the app is to reduce the processing time in providing relief to the natural calamities victims.

"Under this new initiative, beneficiaries will be facilitated with a direct quick amount transfer to their accounts and financial calculation will be done automatically through software as per the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) norms," Piyush Singla, Deputy Commissioner Udhampur, told ANI.

Before providing monetary aid to locals, Patwari will visit the affected house and click photos of the damages occurred to it along with beneficiary's Adhaar card, any FIR copy and PWD report.

"Patwari will upload all these documents to the app which will be monitored by the district development commissioner and deputy commissioner. Thereafter, the amount will be dispersed within 7 to 15 days," Singla said.

Natural calamities victims have been waiting for compensation for quite a long time.

Locals hailed the government for this move, stating that such initiatives shall be taken up across the country to provide immediate relief to common masses affected by a natural calamity.

"Last night, a 7-year-old died after a house was collapsed due to incessant rains. Earlier, it used to take very long to provide compensation to the victims. Now, relief disposal will be provided on the spot," Saima Patwari, Patwar Halqa Londana said.

"Most of the people have kutcha houses. They have no mone to re-build their houses. It is a great step taken up by the government. It would also reduce corruption in government schemes," another local said.