NEW DELHI, NOV 13: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was uncharacteristically harsh with Orissa Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang when the latter met him on Thursday to discuss relief and rehabilitation for his cyclone-ravaged State.``Gamangji,'' he is reported to have said, ``you have known me for 20 years. Have I done anything to deserve the kind of distrust you show in me? We haven't denied anything you've asked for. Then why are you making a political issue of your misfortune?''Tragically, the PM's admonishment seems destined to go unheeded. With Assembly elections due in Orissa in just four months, political rivalry between the Centre and the State is threatening to muddy the massive effort to rescue a coastline facing virtual obliteration.The tussle is over funds. Although the Centre has cut through the red tape and released a grant of Rs 200 crore from the National Calamity Relief Fund (NCRF), it is clearly not enough. According to the Orissa Resident Commissioner in Delhi, P L Hota, the billfor ex-gratia payment alone stands at more than Rs 100 crore at today's toll. And the figures are mounting every day. Calculations of the cost of rescue and relief operations have not even begun yet.The Centre has released an additional amount of Rs 350 crore but the status of this money is not clear. ``We don't know from which kitty this has come,'' complained Congress general secretary Pranab Mukherjee who is in Bhubhaneswar to give Gamang a helping hand. ``We have been told that Rs. 200 crore of this has been automatically adjusted against the state government's overdraft. So there is no liquidity left.'' The chairman of the newly-constituted task force, George Fernandes, did not help matters either when he visited Orissa on Thursday. According to Mukherjee, Fernandes refused to commit himself on the status of the funds released by the Centre. ``He said it will be decided later,'' Mukherjee told The Indian Express from Bhubhaneswar.The Centre's argument is simple. Spend the money now, worry aboutaccounts later. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said as much to Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week. ``Madam,'' he is believed to have told her, ``why are you worried about the colour of the money? This is a life and death situation.'' But worried the Congress is. And when he came out of Race Course Road two evenings ago, Gamang made it clear that he was not about to give up on his demand for a commitment in black and white from the Centre. ``The Prime Minister says the cyclone is a national calamity. Then why doesn't he make a formal announcement?'' he said. The nomenclature would entitle the State to the grant of Rs 500 crore it is demanding for immediate relief work.The Centre's contention is that it can't. Under the recommendations of the Tenth Finance Commission, for a disaster to be declared a ``natural calamity of the severest rarity'', an affected state first has to submit a memorandum detailing its losses and estimated cost of relief and rehabilitation. This is vetted by a committeeconsisting of the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Finance and Railway Ministers and designated Chief Ministers of five states. Grants from the NCRF are released only after this committee gives the green signal.Obviously, with the Orissa administration in tatters after such a devastating cyclone, no such memo has come to the Centre. Money has been released, therefore, on goodwill and verbal assessments. And that's the trouble. Much of the relief efforts by the Centre is based on informal communications between the administrators. And despite repeated assurances, the State seems unsure who's paying.The growing gap between the Centre and the State has led to a piquant situation. The Congress parked a team of three political heavyweights headed by Mukherjee in Bhubhaneswar to bolster Gamang. Vajpayee struck back with a task force headed by his political troubleshooter, George Fernandes. It's a sure recipe for disaster as both sides play to the gallery in the shadow of the forthcoming elections.
