Riot victims got pittance: Setalvad

Raheel Dhattiwala / TNN / Mar 3, 2007, 20:33 IST

Share

AA

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

In Ode village in Anand, where 275 homes destroyed, Rs 8,446 were awarded per home on an average.

AHMEDABAD: It's a survey whose results can be damning. It shows the actual amount of compensation awarded to victims of the 2002 riots, against their entitlement according to police panchnamas.
In Ahmedabad, a survey of destroyed houses was conducted over the last oneand-a-half years to assess the compensation received.
In areas like Behrampura, Rakhial, Shah Alam and Danilimda around 146 homes were surveyed, of which around 70 homes showed damages worth over Rs 4 lakh as per the police panchnama — 90 per cent of these households did not receive a single paisa, according to the survey data.
The data has been collected by Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and Communalism Combat (CC) towards a public interest litigation in the Gujarat High Court filed in March 2003.

"It will be compiled and released in a fortnight,"said CJP's Teesta Setalvad. The survey has taken into account FIR numbers for every house surveyed, the damage as per the police panchnama and the amount given in compensation.
So, you have Sullah Ali Suhiri's house in Meghaninagar showing damage worth Rs 8.5 lakh as per the panchnama; he was awarded Rs 2,500.
Panchnama of Abdul Sattar Shaikh of Shaher Kotda shows damage worth Rs 15 lakh; he has not received any money.

"The ceiling of Rs 50,000 is unreasonable for those victims whose houses were destroyed. And many in the state have still not received a paisa, let alone the full amount. The state government has refused to accept even the estimates of loss mentioned in panchnamas prepared by its own officers,"said Setalvad.
The survey was conducted in 12 districts of Gujarat including Ahmedabad, Anand, Banaskantha, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Mehsana, Bharuch, Patan, Panchmahals, Sabarkantha, Kheda and Vadodara.
Parts of Ahmedabad like Saraspur, Bapunagar and Gomtipur are still to be surveyed. Similarly, in Shaikh Vas, Sardarpur village in Mehsana, 19 homes were destroyed.
Compensation given came to an average Rs 2,055 per home. In Ode village in Anand, where 275 homes destroyed, Rs 8,446 were awarded per home on an average.

End of Article

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA