New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday wrote to all the chief ministers asking them to immediately disburse compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims.
In a letter to the CMs, the Home Minister mentioned about the need for immediate release of the additional compensation announced by the NDA government to the family members of the victims of the anti-Sikh riots, triggered after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh body guards.
The Union Cabinet had earlier in December approved the new compensation amount. This compensation is in addition to what the victims have so far received from the government and other agencies.
Singh also requested the Chief Ministers to inform the Home Ministry about the status of the disbursement of the
compensation amount.
The move came after the Home Minister himself distributed cheques of Rs 5 lakh each to 17 kin of the riot victims at a function on Friday, setting the ball rolling for distribution of the compensation across various states.
The Home Ministry on Tuesday had set up a committee to examine the possibility of constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for reinvestigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. The Committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (retired) G P Mathur, will submit its report within three months.
Of the 3,325 victims, 2,733 were killed in Delhi alone while rest of the victims were from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.
In 2006, the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced a package of Rs 717 crore which included monetary compensation of Rs 3.5 lakh to the kin of each killed in the riots besides financial assistance to the injured and those who had lost their property.
Out of this only, Rs 517 crore had been spent and the remaining Rs 200 crore could not be distributed because of dispute over claimants.
The most affected regions were the Sikh neighbourhoods in Delhi.
Some of the anti-Sikh riot cases are still continuing in courts and many Sikh organisations have alleged that the key conspirators of the violence were at large and victims have not yet got justice.
(With inputs from PTI)
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