State govt to compensate Jalpaiguri blast victims’ families

EOI, Jalpaiguri, 6 January 2014: The state government has initiated the move to compensate family members of the Bajrapara blast victims. Copies of the postmortem reports and other relevant documents have been sent to the state disaster management department to pursue the matter further.

Jalpaiguri district administration sources have said the medical certificates, postmortem reports and income details of the deceased, namely Aarnish Hussain, Rashidul Islam, Paplu Rehman, Lal Mohan Debnath and Rafiul Islam were received by the district magistrate’s office on January 1. They were subsequently sent to the disaster management office in Kolkata.

Speaking on the matter, Jalpaiguri district magistrate Pritha Sarkar said the remaining documents approving the compensation amounts will be released by January 7 and that she is hopeful the financial assistance will reach the affected families by the middle of this month.

In the meantime, the victims’ family members and Bajrapara residents have demanded an increase in the compensation amounts assured besides requesting chief minister Mamata Banerjee to pay a visit to the area.

North Bengal Development Minister Gautam Dev and Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee had visited Jalpaiguri on December 27 following the CM’s directives and held talks with the victims’ family members. They also held a press conference and announced that the next of kin of those who lost their lives would receive Rs2 lakh each, while those severely injured would get Rs1 lakh each and those with minor injuries Rs50,000 each.

Dev and Mukherjee also assured the state government would bear the treatment expenses of the injured. The deceased’s family members want government employment for at least one member from each affected family.

The chief minister is scheduled to visit Siliguri on January 20 to attend the inauguration of the mini secretariat at Fulbari. She is expected to visit the hills and also hand over the compensation amounts to those affected in the Bajrapara incident.