The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi Govt. planning pension for ’84 riot victims

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Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
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New Delhi

Delhi Govt. planning pension for ’84 riot victims

Staff Reporter

Monthly pension will be Rs. 2,500 for victims with over 70 per cent disability and for women whose husband have been missing since

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Government is planning to give a monthly pension of Rs. 2,500 to the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims with over 70 per cent disability and to women whose husband have been missing since to enable them to lead their life with dignity, Revenue Minister Rajkumar Chauhan declared on Tuesday.

Stating that the Government had held elaborate discussions on the problem so that the victims could get additional relief, the Minister said efforts would be made to provide relief to those still languishing without any aid. “The requests of those victims will also be considered seriously who could not apply for pension or any other relief within the stipulated time,” he added.

Mr. Chauhan said the Government would soon take a positive step in the direction of providing additional relief to the riot victims. He said for victims who had left Delhi for security reasons and who therefore could not get anything under the rehabilitation schemes, the Government was now planning to provide ex-gratia rehabilitation.

Pointing out that the Government was planning to provide an ex gratia of Rs.2 lakh per family, he said the list of victims who were killed in violence at railway stations or in trains was also being prepared and the authenticity of their family members or legal heirs was being ascertained.

The Minister said the Government was seriously planning to grant pension to the widows of the riot victims who could not apply for pension due to any reason or whose applications could not be received within the stipulated time. “There is planning to provide them pension of Rs.2,500 per month throughout their life,” he said.

As for the Delhi Cabinet decision of April 5, 2006, to provide an ex gratia of Rs.3.5 lakh to the next of kin of those killed in the riots, Mr. Chauhan said the ex gratia being considered now would be in addition to the amount already paid.

Besides this relief, he said, the compensation for the properties damaged during the riots had also been enhanced 10 times.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday demanded that the Government prepare a list of the sufferers of the anti-Sikh riots and set up a high-level cell for providing compensation so that those who had not been able to get justice or Government help now got it. Alleging that that a number of people who had instigated the massacre of the Sikhs were now occupying high posts in the Congress party, Dr. Vardhan lamented that the party was trying to save them from punishment.

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