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Government to give ex-gratia relief to Bhagalpur riot victims

New Delhi, Fri, 13 Jun 2008 Vikash Ranjan

Almost two decades after the communal riots hit the Bhagalpur district in October 1989 in Bihar, the Central government approved on Thursday to pay an ex-gratia relief of Rs 29.81 crore to families of the victims comprising 844 dead and the 22 injured.


The Finance Minister P Chidambaram, while announcing the decision, said Rs 3.5 lakh would be provided to the next of kin of each of the 844 persons killed. Each of the injured would receive Rs 1.25 lakh. Compensation to both of these categories will cost the government about Rs 30 crore.

Ex-gratia to the first category will be in addition to the amount already paid by the state government, while in the case of the injured, the sum paid by the State government would be deducted. The State Government had spent a gross of Rs.50,715 on the injured persons.

The relief package was approved by the Union Cabinet at its meeting headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The announcement for the Bhagalpur relief package came within a month after the Centre came out with a similar ex-gratia for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots. Earlier the government had also provided a similar relief package to the families of the victims of anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

The relief packages are almost similar with that of Gujarat riots, but with some variations. Gujarat riots relief compensation was also given to those people whose properties were damaged, but Bhagalpur riot victims have no such compensation package.

The Bhagalpur riots had broke out in 1989 after a Hindu religious procession was pelted by stones, allegedly by Muslims. It had erupted during the regime of Congress in Bihar. Like Gujarat riots, most of the victims were Muslims. Analysts believed after the riots, the Congress had lost its appeal among Muslims in the state, which (the situation) was cashed by Lalu Prasad, the then Janata Dal leader, in terms of electoral stakes.

Political analysts also believe that the compensation package to the Bhagalpur riots' victims by the Congress-led UPA government is also influenced by the approaching general elections in 2009.

The credit however goes to the Nitish Kumar of the JD (U), who after taking the command of the state in his hand in 2005 had reopened the riots related case to woo the minority community and demanded additional compensation package from the Union government for the riots' victims. He had written several letters to the PM demanding for a relief package for the Bhagalpur riots' victims at par with the relief given to the anti-Sikh riots.

The Nitish Kumar government said that the package was in response to the recommendations of Justice N N Singh Commission, which was appointed by them in 2006.

The chief opposition Bhartiya Janata Party, an ally of the government in Bihar, had also been supporting the demand for additional compensation. “We have been saying all along that victims of all communal riots since 1984, regardless of their faith, should be treated equally,” stated BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.

The loss of life is irreparable and can not be compensated in terms of money, but certainly helps the families of the victims' to some extent to live in better way.


Read More: Chidambaram

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