The Hindu : National : Pension for families of Bhagalpur riot victims

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Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
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Pension for families of Bhagalpur riot victims

K. Balchand

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday decided to grant pension to the families of those killed in the 1989 Bhagalpur riots.

Accepting the interim recommendations of the Justice N.N. Singh Commission, Mr. Kumar has decided to petition the Centre to accord the same compensation package given to victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the Gujarat riots.

Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah would be visiting Delhi to hand over the State’s petition to the Ministry of Home Affairs and deliver the Chief Minister’s letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard. The official death toll in the riots was 853 and the authorities are likely to add the claims of about 25 more deaths.

A pension of Rs. 2,500 would be given to only one member of the affected family irrespective of the number of its members killed in the riots.

Mr. Kumar said that the Cabinet would meet and clear the proposal at the earliest.

He hoped that the Centre would also accept the recommendations made by the commission and provide its share of compensation to the families of the deceased and meet the cost of reconstruction of the property lost by about 50,000 families in 250 villages of 15 blocks of the district.

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