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Special packages sought for Jaipur blasts affected

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government’s response to the need for rebuilding the lives of next of kin of those killed as well as those injured in the May 13 serial blasts in Jaipur falls far short of the role expected of it. The Government has failed to initiate any action for long-term rehabilitation of the victims.

With these observations, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) demanded here over the weekend that the State Government announce special packages for single women and children who have lost their parents and take social security measures for old parents of the deceased. For many of the 80 seriously injured, medical treatment needs to be restarted.

The PUCL, which undertook a study on the socio-economic conditions of the families of the deceased and the injured during June and July, discovered that the majority of them were finding it very difficult to cope with the loss. The deaths and injuries had had an adverse impact on the quality of life, food consumption and repayment of loans.

Over a dozen students from law and humanities colleges, acting as surveyors, covered 42 of the 68 families of the deceased and 60 of the 140 families of the injured. Of the 42 households of the deceased, 22 had women who had lost their husbands, while 55 children were now dependent on mothers who had become the head of the household.

PUCL State general secretary Kavita Srivastava pointed out that 71 per cent of the men who died were earners of the joint and nuclear families and 11 of them were the sole earners. Their death has resulted in the reduction of income of 66 per cent of the households, showing that the blasts not only killed innocent people but also had repercussions at multiple levels.

Sixteen of the 68 deceased were Muslims, while two belonged to Scheduled Castes and nine to Other Backward Classes. Ms. Srivastava said these figures were enough to debunk the “wild conjectures” of police about the identity of the perpetrators of the blasts and their investigation targeting the Muslim community alone.

In seven of the affected families, children have been withdrawn from schools and they are girls in five of these families. The PUCL report pointed out that this situation denying right to education to children warranted an immediate State intervention.

More than 33 per cent of the families had one or the other loan ranging between Rs.4,000 and Rs.7 lakh that needed to repaid due to the bereavement of the main earner, while 23 per cent of the women who had lost their husbands were found in a state of depression and were very sad. One of them had gone into complete silence.

One of the student surveyors wrote in her field notes: “Our experience of meeting the affected families left us empty of words to describe the strength of the human will that sometimes breaks down, yet continues to fight. It humbled us, inspired us and at a point left us in tears.”

Expressing concern over the absolute lack of a policy on rehabilitation of the victims of bomb blasts, Ms. Srivastava said the affected families had not received anything except Rs.5 lakh each as ex-gratia payment from the State Government. The State has no plans for their rehabilitation, arrangement for livelihood, marriage of girls or education for children.

The PUCL demanded that all the widows be given job on priority as well as interest-free housing loans or houses under the Indira Awaas Yojana. The State Government should also provide scholarships for higher and professional education of children and give pension to old parents of the deceased.

Ms. Srivastava regretted that Rs.1 lakh each promised from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund had not reached the families of victims, except two families of the deceased. Besides, the reported promise of the Indian Premier League to pay Rs.5 crore to the affected families has only remained an announcement.

The PUCL also recommended that a law guaranteeing the State action for the families of victims of tragedies like bomb explosions be enacted without delay and the rights of blast victims be enshrined in the two Central statutes on internally displaced people and on relief and rehabilitation on the anvil.

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