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Kin of Bahrain fire victims yet to get relief

Dubai: A year after 16 Indian workers died in a labour camp fire in Bahrain, the families of those killed are yet to get compensation.

The huge Indian community in the capital Manama paid tributes to those who died in the Gudaibiya labour camp blaze during a memorial meeting on the first anniversary of the tragedy on Monday night.

Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty, who chaired the meeting, said he had taken up the plight of the victims’ families with the country’s Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

“I informed the Prime Minister that the company has not yet paid any compensation to the workers’ families. The Prime Minister said he would seriously look into the matter. Earlier, I also took up the issue with Labour Minister Dr. Majeed Al Alawi,” the Indian envoy was quoted as saying in the Gulf Daily News.

Last month, Mohammed Al Watani, the lawyer for the victims’ families urged the company not to let the civil compensation case drag on.

He said the dead men’s families could receive as much as BD1,00,000 (Rs. 10 lakhs) each, but added only the judge could decide the final amount based on the number of dependents and their personal circumstances.

The company’s Indian supervisor, Mohammed Awresh Abdulrahman, was jailed for two years on March 22, but Bahraini owner Salah Abdul Latif Al Abdulla and another Indian supervisor Nishat Nader Khan were let off. — PTI

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