Efforts are on to get over 1,000 riot-affected Muslims from across the state to stage a protest demonstration in New Delhi, against the delay on the Centre’s part in releasing additional relief money for them. The amount is estimated to be around Rs 270 crore.Five months after the Centre announced an additional relief package of more than Rs 330 crore for the victims of the 2002 riots, nothing has changed for around 30,000 Muslims whose property was razed or damaged in the mayhem. They were supposed to receive an additional ex gratia 10 times the amount paid to them earlier.Yusuf Sheikh, the Vadodara-based convener of the Antrik Visthapit Hak Rakshak Samiti, said: “The protestors will represent the 29,467 registered and the nearly 4,500 unregistered cases of damage to Muslim residential properties during the riots.” He said the demonstration will be staged at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on November 5.On May 22 this year, the Centre had announced Rs 330 crore additional relief package for the riot victims. This was aimed to bring relief to the victims at par with the measures taken in respect of victims of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. The Gujarat government had, however, criticised the decision and called it ‘partial’. A day after the relief package was announced, the Gujarat government had termed is as “cheating” and full of “duplicity”. In a statement, government spokesperson and Health Minister Jai Narain Vyas had called for a similar package for the anti-Sikh riot victims of 1984 and all other communal riots that had taken place in the country since then. The Gujarat government had also demanded a package on similar lines for the victims of the Akshardham Temple attack of 2003. The next of the kin of 1,169 people killed in the riots were supposed to receive Rs 3.5 lakh ex gratia in addition to the Rs 1.5 lakh already paid to them by the state government earlier. A sum of Rs 1.25 lakh was to be paid to each of the 2,548 people injured, after deducting the Rs 2, 000 already paid to them by the state government.For the victims, whose residential property was damaged in the riots, an additional ex gratia of 10 times the amount given by the state government, after excluding the amount already paid by the state, was to be given.Though ex-gratia for the kin of those killed in the riots and the people who were injured, has already been paid, the state government is yet to receive the money proposed as ex-gratia for those who lost their houses and shops in the riots.Gujarat State Director for Relief D A Oza said: “Ex gratia for the kin of those killed and the people who were injured in the 2002 riots, was released by the Centre on time. We have even disbursed it among the victims. The money for ex-gratia for those whose property was damaged, however, is yet to be released by the Centre. We had even sent an estimated proposal for this to the Centre, but it is yet to respond.”According to records, of the 29,467 cases of people whose property was damaged during the riots, around 15,000 are from Ahmedabad city and the district alone. Records also indicate that the state government has already paid Rs 18.137 crore for properties damaged in rural areas in the state and Rs 15.12 crore for those damaged in the urban areas. An additional Rs 270 crore is needed to pay these victims ex-gratia 10 times the amount already given, excluding that which has already been paid.
