What about you?
 
Today we are left with wondering who we go to.  The Big NGO donors do have Tsunami money still left, but they have already left the area. Can we force them, through some legal means to complete the job?  Surely there are many local NGOs, and Local panchayats, and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) who can take these works!
 
As far as government is concerned, we need to use different mechanisms to get them to do the job.  We need to use the right to information to find out allocations, and schemes that we can use.  We also need to find out how Tsunami money is being diverted for other projects.  For example in the KanyaKumari Kovallam areas, we can see a new coastal road has been made to access the sun-set point, a project which would mainly help tourists, and not the tsunami affected people.  The same is the case near a group of islands affected by Tsunami, loads of money has been spent to beauty the beach, and make tourist spots. The other mega-project is the construction of International Tourism Convention Centre in Mahabalipuram at a cost of Rs.1400 crores (14,000 million rupees).   Is this using Tsunami money? Can we find this out? And if so, Can we not protest that this money which was meant for us, is going into activities that may well actually alienate us further from the coast in the long run..?
 
All in all, it is left to us to ensure that disaster relief funds, be they through the government, international agencies or NGOs, are utilized effectively. The only way to minimize the miss-utilization of any fund is to actively participate in the decision making as well as monitoring, and implementation of the reconstruction effort.  We need to find out from our Panchayats, and NGOs working in the area, what schemes have been planned, and what monies have been allocated , the basis for the plan and allocations, as well as who the beneficiariesare.
 
Under the Right to Information Act, we can definitely ensure that we get the correct information that is required.  We have seen how the Mazdur Kishan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) has been successfully using this Act to ensure the benefits of the government programmes.