Centre to distribute Rs 250 cr more for Gujarat riot victims
After releasing Rs 70.55-crore last year as relief for victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots, the UPA government is now set to offer another Rs 250 crore as compensation to families whose residential properties were damaged on account of the post-Godh...
By Bharti Jain, |
NEW DELHI: After releasing Rs 70.55-crore last year as relief for victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots, the UPA government is now set to offer another Rs 250 crore as compensation to families whose residential properties were damaged on account of the post-Godhra communal violence.
Although the September 2007 package had earmarked Rs 9.03 crore for total or partial damage to houses of the riot-hit ��� one-third of the Rs 30.1 crore was disbursed by the state government under this particular head ��� the MHA is now keeping its promise of disbursing 10 times the relief paid by the Gujarat government minus the amount already paid.
The promise was made when the Centre first approved the enhanced relief package for Gujarat riot-hit in March 2007, whose first cache was released in September 2007.
The Rs 250-crore relief is expected to be put up for approval of the Union Cabinet soon. What may bring even more succour to the likely beneficiaries are MHA���s plans to release the money in one go: The relief, which comes more than 6 years after the actual riots, is likely to be released simultaneously to all those who have benefited from the Rs 30.1 crore assistance released disbursed earlier by the Gujarat government.
Stock-taking by MHA had found the Rs 9.03 crore disbursed in September 2007 too minuscule to bring succour to the all the families whose houses were damaged or burnt down in the midst of communal violence that had broken out in the state in March 2002 soon after the train carnage in Godhra that killed 59 passengers.
The Rs 9.03 crore towards riot-damaged property was released as part of the Rs 70.55-crore package, whose release was timed just ahead of the Gujarat assembly polls. In 1,169 cases of death, the assistance given amounted to Rs 3.5 lakh in addition to what has already been paid by the state. In 2,548 cases of injury, the ex-gratia aid was pegged at Rs 1.25 lakh, but minus the amount paid by the state.
���We are also working on other aspects of the comprehensive relief and rehabilitation package, approved by the Union Cabinet for the riot victims in March this year,��� home minister Shivraj Patil had told newspersons while announcing the Rs 70.55 crore package.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Union Cabinet had in March approved a comprehensive relief and rehabilitation package for all victims of the sectarian violence in Gujarat. It had decided that in case of damage to residential and commercial property, the compensation will be ���ten times the amount given by the state government minus the amount already paid.
Earlier in 2002, the Centre had made available Rs 155 crore to Gujarat for providing relief and rehabilitation to the victims. The state government used Rs 136 crore and returned Rs 19 crore to the Centre.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
