Godhra train carnage: Almost a year after HC verdict, Gujarat govt to give Rs 5 lakh to kin

More than a year after the Gujarat High Court in its verdict awarded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the 59 people killed in the Godhra train carnage, the families of the deceased say they have no clue when the compensation will come.

Meanwhile, just a few weeks before the Lok Sabha polls the state government woke up from its slumber to announce that it will be paying Rs 5 lakh of the said compensation to the kith and kin of the victims of the carnage. The state in a release said that it will be using Rs 2.6 crore from the CM's relief fund to pay the compensation.

59 people had been killed in the incident in which the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was set ablaze. The coach was ferrying karsevaks who were returning from Ayodhya. So far only 52 of the 59 victims have been identified.

Minister of state for home Pradipsinh Jadeja said that Railway ministry has already informed the victims that compensation would reach them soon. He also said that the matter came to consideration of government lately so the process got delayed after court order. Interestingly none of the kin that DNA talked to mentioned any such information.

A division bench of Justices AS Dave and GR Udhwani had passed the order for enhanced compensation in mid-October 2017.

The court had at that time said that the burden of compensation was to be shared equally by the state government, the Railways and the Centre and the amount was to be distributed by the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA).

Khushboo Raval, whose grandmother died in the carnage said it has been almost a year since the officials sought their document. "At that time we had an election. Another one is coming in 2019 so I guess that is when things will again move a bit to be forgotten again," said Raval.

Harsh Chondagar, whose mother Ami was killed while returning from Ayodhya on the fateful day said earlier the talati has collected some documents from them.

"That is all we know. They came to seek the death certificate of my father and my mother as well as some other documents but that was some time ago. I have since approached them to know the status but they don't reply," said Chondagar.

Chirag Matre, who lived in the same society as Harsh and who too lost his mother in the incident said he has now approached a lawyer to get help with the compensation. "Several months ago the government people collected our documents and that is all we know. Even those who came to collect it had no clue when we would get the compensation,"s aid Matre.

A legal officer of the state government who did not wish to be named said that it was the state's responsibility to collect the details of the victims and to release the funds for the same. "The GSLSA is just an agency that will disburse the funds btu that can happen only when the funds and verified list of beneficiaries comes to the agency," said the officer.

CASE FILE

• 59 people had been killed in the incident in which the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was set ablaze. 
   
• A division bench of Justices AS Dave and GR Udhwani had passed the order for enhanced compensation in mid-October 2017.
   
• The burden of compensation was to be shared equally by the state government, the Railways and the Centre and the amount was to be distributed by the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority.