http://indiatoday.
Courtesy: Mail Today
Maya has money for statues, not for slain jawans
Aman Sharma
New Delhi, April 13, 2010
But the Uttar Pradesh chief minister has no money for the families of
the 42 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men from her state who died
fighting the Maoists in Dantewada on April 6.
The CRPF officers are seething after Mayawati also failed to be
present at the Lucknow airport when the bodies of the slain jawans
were brought from Chhattisgarh on Thursday.
Akhilesh Yadav, son of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, was
present on the occasion. One of the deceased was the son of his
personal security officer.
While Haryana, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu announced compensations
ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for the families of the jawans
hailing from their states, Mayawati has not shown keenness to do so.
A majority of the jawans who died in the attack were from Uttar Pradesh.
"To my knowledge, there is no proposal of the UP government giving any
compensation to the families of the slain CRPF men," state home
secretary Mahesh Gupta said.
CRPF officers said this was insensitive.
"It is generally a compassionate step by the home state of a CRPF
jawan dying in action to give his family some help in the form of
money, job or honour. It should have been a proud occasion for
Mayawati to acknowledge the sacrifice of the 42 jawans from her state
and announce compensation for their families," a CRPF officer said.
"But we have been told she is not interested in giving any money to
the families." In comparison, Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh
Pokhriyal Nishank has
announced Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the seven jawans from his
state. Tamil Nadu has announced Rs 5 lakh each to the families of
three jawans.
On Monday, Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced jobs for widows
of the two deceased CRPF men who hailed from the state and Rs 25 lakh
each to the villages of the jawans for development work. He also
visited the bereaved families.
In contrast, Mayawati has not visited any of the UP jawans' families,
a CRPF officer said.
Another officer said she was not keen to give compensation as she
would have to pay a sizeable amount - maybe in excess of Rs 1 crore.
The UP government has done this before. "Last year, 12 CRPF men killed
in Maoistrelated violence were from UP but Mayawati gave their
families nothing," an officer said.
Home minister P. Chidambaram has, however, assured that by the
monthend, the families of all the 75 CRPF men would get Rs 38.6 lakh
as relief from the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government and a job to
one eligible member in the deceased jawan's family.
The home ministry is also considering a proposal from the CRPF that
its men killed in action be accorded "martyr" status as in the armed
forces. " If that happens, the home state would be obliged to
compensate the families of the deceased," an official said.
According to the home ministry official, Mayawati offers the least
compensation compared to all Maoist-affected states to paramilitary
men if they die in action in UP. "The government pays Rs 90,000 to the
family of a CRPF jawan who dies in action in UP. But Chhattisgarh,
West Bengal and Jharkhand pay Rs 13 lakh, which includes a group
insurance worth Rs 10 lakh, whose premium is footed by the state
government. Bihar pays Rs 2.5 lakh while Andhra Pradesh pays Rs 7.5
lakh," a source said.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/
No comments:
Post a Comment