Una flogging victims given full compensation, says Ishwar Parmar, Gujarat minister

The families of the Dalit youth who were attacked and flogged by upper caste men in Una town of Gujarat in 2016 have already been given compensation, said Ishwar Parmar, Gujarat minister for social justice and empowerment. The minister on Wednesday said the victims' families were now demanding money instead of land levelling work to be carried out by the government, and that was not possible.

Talking to media persons after the weekly Cabinet meeting of the state government, Parmar said: "The government has already paid all sort of compensation promised to them including land, houses and money. No compensation is pending and they have not approached us with any complaints. I do not know why they approached the president instead of coming to us."

"They were given 5.33 acres of agricultural land as per compensation formula so that they can have a livelihood. The land was to be levelled and the government had initiated the tender process for the same. But the family proposed that the government should give them the money that would be used after levelling, and that is not possible as per rules," he added.

The minister further said the tender process for levelling the land was delayed because they did not receive any response for the first three times it was floated. He said the agencies were not ready to work for the budget that the government had sanctioned for the project. The collector then on October 20 formed a committee comprising the executive engineer of the road and building department and the district agriculture officer to refloat the tender.

He further disclosed that the tender amount was Rs 4,15,530 and the grant has been allotted to the executive engineer for the levelling work. As per the government's claim, families of victim Piyush Sarvaiya and his three brothers are living in a rental accommodation in Una. They earn their livelihood through labour work.

According to the government, the victim's families have so far received Rs 1,50,000 in cash, a Post Office Monthly Pension Scheme of Rs 2,25,000, Rs 5,00,000 from Dr Ambedkar foundation in New Delhi, additional cash aid of Rs 45,000, food grain assistance worth Rs 21,000, Rs 42,897 as migratory relief, Rs 25,00 for legal fees.