Bengal clears Nandigram payouts after SC rap

KOLKATA: A day after the Supreme Court ticked off the state government for being selective in granting payouts to victims of the police firing in Nandigram on March 14, 2007, compensation files long pending with the finance department were cleared in a hurry on Thursday. The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is now working overtime to disburse cheques to the 159 injured before the Nandigram case comes up for hearing at the apex court on December 2.

As a balancing act, the government has decided to pay Rs 1 lakh compensation to families of the dead as well as rape victims during a renewed spell of violence in the first week of November the same year when CPM cadres stormed Nandigram in a “recapture” bid, keeping the police at bay. The move is being seen as a step to make peace with the National Human Rights Commission, which had recommended compensation for families of the dead on November 7.

The government had denied compensation to these victims on the ground that the clashes in November were between political rivals, and the state had no role in it.

State officials, though, argued the decision to pay compensation was taken before the Supreme Court’s order. “We have already compensated the families of the dead and rape victims during the the March 14 firing in Nandigram . We also took a decision to compensate the injured. The file was lying with the finance department,” said chief secretary Samar Ghosh.

The sudden proactiveness has left a section of CPM leaders, who had ruled out compensation for Nandigram victims, embarrassed.