By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 13, 2022: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday launched a portal which will help make investigations faster and payment of compensation to the victims of SC-ST atrocities within a period of 21 days.

The Single Window Application Atrocity Compensation Assistance and Relief’ or SAACAR portal will help the authorities avoid the delay caused by the existing manual system of enquiry and payment of compensation to the victims, the chief minister observed. .

“My government is committed to the welfare of the SC/ST community and this new portal will bring a huge solace to the victims of atrocity belonging to the SC/ST community”, he said.

Official sources said that Odisha recorded 2,828 cases of crime against people belonging to Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in 2020-21 compared to 2,768 cases in the previous year.

The departments of Home, ST & SC Development and Revenue & Disaster Management have developed the portal.

Officials said that all the atrocity cases being registered at various police stations of the state will come under the SAACAR portal. The compensation amount will be paid directly to the account of the victims.

Meanwhile, the chief minister also released a book titled Pandemic Disruptions and Odisha’s Lessons in Governance’, written by BJD MP Amar Patnaik.

The book contains a collection of essays on issues that emerged in India during the pandemic years of 2020-21 and 2021-2022.