Delhi violence victims yet to receive compensation

Hyderabad: The compensation announced by the Delhi government for the violence-hit victims are not reaching the people, says a report by Delhi-based ‘Satark Nagrik Sangathan’.

The members of the organization, including Anjali Bhardwaj, Annie Raja, Poonam Kaushik, Geetanjali Krishna and Amrita Johri went to the badly-affected Bhajanpura, Chaman Park and Shiv Vihar on February 29. While talking to the people, they came to know that only in Shiv Vihar were some Hindu families approached by some government officials asking their details to fill in the compensation form.

While in other areas people are not even aware of the compensation scheme. The Delhi government on February 27 announced Rs. 10 lakh of compensation for families of deceased, Rs. 5 lakh to kin who lost minors and Rs 5 lakh to people who have been permanently disabled besides compensations for loss of house and documents.

Situation at Chaman Nagar

In Chaman Nagar it was found that over thousand Muslims who had fled from Shiv Vihar were staying in private homes, which the owners opened for providing emergency shelter. The report said, the basic need of the people is being taken care of by non-governmental organization. Even those families allege that no one has come from the Union of State government. Some men who tried to go back to Shiv Vihar to retrieve their documents were brutally attacked, said the victims.

Shiv Vihar deserted

The report states that Shiv Vihar looks like a ghost town as thousands of people had fled their homes. The volunteers came across burnt Auliya Masjid and could see remains of LPG cylinders, which were used to burn the Masjid down. They also saw damaged houses belonging to both communities. The volunteers spoke to Mithilesh and Sunitha who stated that they called fire brigade and police repeatedly when armed men were attacking them. But there was no response. Only Shiv Vihar residents said some government representatives came to collect information/

Shops burnt at Bhajanpura

While the volunteers were travelling to Bhajanpur, they found many shops, schools and trucks burnt. They met two brothers Azad and Bhoora, who owned three shops in the locality. They stated that the fire brigade arrived by 7 pm after all the houses and shops were completely gutted. Azad’s family and workers in his shop had escaped the fire by jumping off from 12 feet high terrace of their house as the armed men had set their house on fire.

Meanwhile, all the respondents said that the attackers were not locals. They demanded relief camps for the people to stay until they rebuild their houses or find an alternate residing place.