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Journalism of Courage
The one-member enquiry committee headed by Justice (retd) Jitendra Chauhan to look into the heritage tree collapse at Chandigarh’s Carmel Convent School last year has recommended a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the kin of 16-year-old Heerakshi, a student who died after coming under the 250-year-old tree, and Rs 50 lakh to Ishita, who lost her hand in the incident.
The report, which was submitted to the UT administration in January this year, was accessed on Tuesday through the Right to Information Act by R K Garg, a resident of Sector 27.
The committee has recommended that the Rs 1 crore compensation will be paid by the Chandigarh engineering department, due to whose alleged negligence the tragedy occurred on July 8 last year. The committee has also said that the Chandigarh administration should bear the expenses of a transplant or any other treatment available for Ishita, in the country or abroad, as and when such surgeries are carried out.
The committee has further recommended that all the treatment expenses of Sheela, an employee of Carmel Convent School who was injured in the incident, would be borne by the Chandigarh engineering department and that she should be provided with a regular suitable job as per her qualification.
Following the incident last year, the Chandigarh administration had paid compensation of Rs 20 lakh and Rs 10 lakh to the parents of Heerakshi and Ishita, respectively.
“The administration never conveyed to us that Rs 1 crore compensation was recommended. Money will never compensate us. We lost our beloved child,” Pankaj Kumar, Heerakshi’s father, said. “Authorities had handed over a Rs 20 lakh cheque to us. Believe me, we never wished to claim the money. The cheque was lying with us until a staff member from the office of DC [deputy commissioner] visited us and pursued us to encash it, stating that it is a must. The money is still lying in the bank account,” he added.
