Bhubaneswar: Earlier, payment of ex-gratia to the next of kin of the persons who lost their lives due to different approved disasters was getting physically processed through case records from the lowest levels of revenue administration and sanctioned at the level of Collector. The State Government initiated Disaster Assistance Monitoring and Payment System (DAMPS) w.e.f. 10.06.2020. It is a digital platform on the design parameters for online processing, monitoring and payment of ex-gratia to the NoK of the disaster victims. The entire process is on paperless digital path. The total time taken from FIR of death due to disaster to receipt of payment in the bank account is reduced substantially than the old manual system. DAMPS is a classic case of use of Technology to reduce unnecessary physical processing hassles. It provides a Transparent platform to the citizen to know the time lapse of processing at each level as well as to administrative hierarchy to have better monitoring and control on service delivery. Needless to say that the effort has brought Transformation in the administrative processing of ex-gratia to the NoK of the persons who lose their lives in disasters. The entire process of the DAMPS project for early payment of disaster assistance to the eligible beneficiaries has been designed with the technical support of the National Informatics Centre, Bhubaneswar. Overall the DAMPS project is benefitted as-
- Timely and hassle free payment of disaster assistance to the beneficiaries
- 100% Transparency in payment system
- Integration of e-governance project of other related Departments to save time
- Payment of disaster assistance through DBT
- Withdrawal of unnecessary burden on the field functionaries like Collectors, Sub-Collector and Tahasildars for payment.
Shri Padmanav Behera, OAS (SAG), Additional Special Relief Commissioner and Shri Biswanath Sahoo, OAS (SB), Deputy Secretary has received the prestigious SKOCH Award, 2023 on 10.02.2024 on behalf of Shri Satyabrata Sahoo, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary & Special Relief Commissioner at New-Delhi. SRC has expressed that brain child of the DAMPS project is Shri Pradeep Kumar Jena, IAS, Chief Secretary, Odisha. SRC has also given credit to all the stakeholders for their effort for successful management of the project.
