Twenty-three years after he lost his wife and daughter, a victim of
the 1989 Bhagalpur riots will receive compensation and pension from the
state government in Bihar.
Bibi Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed Wahid Naddaf, a resident of
village Salempur under Amarpur block of Banka district, had gone missing
in the wake of the horrendous riots in Bhagapur district that had
claimed more than 850 lives.
More than two decades after the worst-ever communal carnage in Bihar,
Fatima has been presumed dead in the official records with the state
government releasing an amount of Rs.1.65 lakh as pension for her father with retrospective effect from September 2007.
In an official communication to the district magistrate of Banka,
special secretary, home (special) Preeta Verma said that Fatima's father
be paid the pension amount at the rate of Rs.2,500
per month with retrospective effect from the day the state government
had introduced pension scheme for the next of kin of the riot victims.
The district magistrate has been directed to identify Fatima's father
and ensure he received the pension amount through an account payee
cheque. The DM has also been told to get a bank opened in his name
immediately if he did not have a bank account in his name at present.
The letter also communicates that the sanctioned fund should not be used
for any purpose other than payment of pension to Naddaf.
In addition, the department has also released an ex gratia of Rs.1 lakh to Naddaf for the death of his wife Bibi Sairoon in the riots.
The department move followed after Naddaf had filed a complaint to
the chief justice of the Patna High Court that he had not been paid any
compensation in the Bhagalpur riots case. The court had asked the
principal secretary of the Home department to appear before the court on
August 27 with an affidavit on the issue of payment of compensation to
the Bhagalpur riot victims.
The government, in its affidavit, said that about 850 people had been
paid compensation and pension for the Bhagalpur riots. The court has
now sought the detailed list of the riot victims.
After coming to power, the Nitish Kumar government had decided to
grant pension to the families of those killed in the Bhagalpur riots on
the basis of the recommendations of the Justice N N Singh Commission
which was set up to probe the riots afresh.
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