Badal asks deputy commissioners to settle pending cases of 84 riots

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked deputy commissioners (DCs) to be liberal while considering pending cases of fresh applicants of 84 riot affected-families, who could not apply for relief under the 'rehabilitation package" announced by the Centre.     Chairing a high-level meeting to review progress of the implementation of the package here, Badal directed DCs to consider all the fresh cases of such applicants with open mind so that they could be given adequate relief as per the Centre's policy.     The financial commissioner revenue informed the chief minister in the meeting that the state government had invited fresh applications from the victims of 1984 riots who couldnot apply earlier due to some unavoidable circumstances, positively by January 31, 2010.     Union home minister P Chidambaram in a letter to Badal had asked the Punjab government to dispose off all the cases of pending claims before March 31, 2010.     Chidambaram had already given an Assurance to the House to this effect. The ministry of home affairs had also informed that 435 claims of rehabilitation grants were still pending disposal with the state government.