A year after the promise of Rs.1-crore ex gratia by the then Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily to Chenda Jayalakshmi, whose husband, Ch. Murali, a tribal officer of HPCL killed in Visakh Refinery cooling tower blast, has remained a mirage.
“I am running from pillar to post but none is talking about fulfilling the announcement of Mr. Moily. Now I am planning to write a letter to present Minister Dharmendra Pradhan,” Ms. Jayalakshmi, who works in Visakhapatnam port, told The Hindu . Her son is aged eight and daughter five.
Job offerAnother promise on which everyone is maintaining stoic silence is on providing a job. “At least, HPCL should make an offer of job to one of my children on attaining the age of 18 years as I am already working,” she said.
The management handed over a cheque for Rs.1 crore as advance out of ‘total statutory and non-statutory’ payment of Rs.1.52 crore, in which there was no mention of Rs.1-crore ex gratia. A letter sent by HPCL states about payment of Rs.1.52 crore, which includes Rs.72.92 lakh from claim settlement from New India Assurance, Rs.18.65 lakh from provident fund, Rs.7.44 lakh gratuity, Rs.8.51 lakh leave encashment, Rs.4 lakh employee death contributory relief, Rs.38.69 lakh (towards purchase of annuity by LIC for pension) and Rs.2.5 lakh group savings linked insurance.
“I don’t understand what sort of ex gratia they have paid except the statutory benefits and insurance claims,” Ms. Jayalakshmi asks and describes how life has become quite an embarrassment for her as bankers, insurance and realty agents frequently approach her to invest the Rs.1-crore ex gratia with them promising high returns.
The tribal employees are agitated over the raw deal. “If required we will knock at the doors of court to get justice for Ms. Jayalakshmi,” says district honorary president of AP Girijana Sangham V. Tirupati Rao.
