‘Victims of police firing not compensated adequately’

Rights organisation says jobs offered were low-ranking

May 20, 2019 11:56 pm | Updated 11:56 pm IST

MADURAI

Many of the victims of police firing during the anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi last May have not been adequately compensated, People’s Watch, a Madurai-based human rights organisation, has said.

In a report titled ‘A year after Thoothukudi burned,’ released here on Monday, the organisation said the worst affected were those who sustained bullet injuries.

Acknowledging that the families of all those killed in the firing had received the compensation of ₹ 20 lakh each from the government, the report, however, highlighted that the employment provided to a family member of each deceased person was not satisfactory.

Addressing media here after releasing the report, Henri Tiphagne, executive director, People’s Watch, said while almost all the persons were provided the job of ‘ Thalaiyari (Village Assistants),’ one person was appointed as a Cook Assistant under the Nutritious Meal Scheme, though a few of them had undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

Thalaiyari is among the jobs in the lowest rank with a poor pay and requires a qualification of only Class 10,” he said.

The report pointed out that two persons, studying in colleges, had to give up their education to take up these jobs. Those who had taken up the job also included a person with M.Sc, B. Ed. qualification and another with B.B.A. qualification, the report said.

“This means that the government had no serious concerns over rehabilitating the families properly. The postings were also in different places in the district, because of which a considerable portion of their paltry salary is spent on commuting itself,” he said.

Mr. Tiphagne said some of the persons who sustained bullet injuries required second or third surgery. “The compensation provided to them was not adequate. The government should enable them to get treatment at any private hospital of their choice with all the expenses taken care of,” he said.

He added that the government had failed to rehabilitate many of the injured persons, who lost their livelihood in fishing or agriculture due to injuries.

“Also, there was no counselling provided to any of the family members of the deceased, or those injured in the violence,” he alleged.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.