Many 1984 riot victims yet to get compensation: activist

The Indian government is yet to implement in toto the compensation package Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, a leading lawyer said Wednesday.

"Although 85 percent of the riot victims in Delhi have been paid the monetary part of the compensation, the government is yet to give them the promised employment," advocate Harvinder Singh Phoolka said.

"What is worse is the fact that the government appears to be backing out from implementing its promise of giving a liberal package in some states," Phoolka told IANS.

He identified three such states: Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Phoolka, who has been fighting for justice on behalf of Sikhs who suffered in 1984, is planning to move the Supreme Court to force the government to implement its promise of enhanced compensation all over the country.

Violence directed at innocent Sikhs after two of her Sikh bodyguards shot dead then prime minister Indira Gandhi on this day in 1984 left 2,733 people dead in the capital by official count. Thousands were injured.

In 2006, Manmohan Singh promised a liberal compensation to the riot victims. This included a sum of Rs.350,000 to the next of the kin of those killed besides Rs.125,000 to those injured in the mayhem.

The prime minister also promised a monthly pension for the widows of those killed, besides government employment to least one member in every family that lost a member in the mob fury.

--Indo-Asan News Service

(IANS)

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