Delhi riots: AAP govt to launch verification drive for release of compensation to victims on March 7

NEW DELHI: To ensure speedy disbursement of relief to the victims of violence in northeast Delhi, the AAP government will commence a two-day mega verification drive from Saturday. According to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, this decision was taken after seeing duplication in the  1,700 forms submitted for compensation. 

The exercise will be done keeping in mind the accurate disbursal of compensation announced by the government to the victims of riots.

For the next two days, six  IAS officers will be visiting the colonies in the district along with State District Magistrates (SDM) and police. 

The government wants the verification process to complete at the earliest so that the victims can get compensation as soon as possible, Sisodia told reporters at a press conference on Friday. 

Help from locals including neighbours will be taken in identifying the victims of damaged houses. 

The officials will visit relief camps set up for the victims and try to convince residents to return to their homes.  “Many people are fearful and have left their homes. They are not returning so our officials will visit relief camps and identify their homes. Our effort is to give full monetary relief to the people as soon as possible so that they can get their lives back on track,” said Sisodia. 

Recently, the government revised the compensation amount which included loot to the house in the aftermath of the violence last week. The latest death toll in communal riots stands at 53. “Restoration and rehabilitation work is going on at a very fast pace, in the riot-affected areas of northeast Delhi. SDMs have been deployed to different parts of the violence-hit region.

Compensation forms are being given out to the grieving families and on the basis of these forms, the process of providing monetary compensation to the affected families has started,” the deputy chief minister added.

 Sisodia added that each floor of a house will be treated as one residential unit, adding that Rs 5 lakh will be given to each residential unit out of which Rs 4 lakh is for restructuring of the house and Rs 1 lakh for belongings if the entire house was burnt.

98% attendance for Cbse exam in n-E Delhi
More than 98 per cent students appeared for Class XII exam in riot-hit northeast Delhi on Friday, a CBSE official said. There were 2,698 centres for 1,99,763 registered candidates for the Central Board Secondary Exam (CBSE) Class XII Political Science exam in India, including entire Delhi, and foreign countries.

Tahir sent to 7-day  police custody
A Delhi court Friday sent suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain to 7-day police custody in connection with the alleged killing of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the recent violence in northeast Delhi. Duty Magistrate Rakesh Kumar passed the order after Delhi Police said his custodial interrogation was required to unearth larger conspiracy. 

‘Efforts on to fish bodies out of drains’
The police told the Delhi High Court Friday that efforts were on to recover bodies from drains in northeast Delhi. The submission by Delhi Police was made before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar after senior advocate A S Chandhiok told the court that drains there were full of bodies and sought directions to clear them. Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra, appearing for the police, said steps have been taken by the police along with DJB and irrigation department to clear the bodies from the drains.

Hate speech pleas listed for March 12
The Delhi High Court Friday listed for March 12 multiple pleas related to violence in northeast Delhi including the ones seeking filing of FIRs against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma and Kapil Mishra for allegedly making hate speeches.  The pleas also include a separate petition alleging hate speeches by Congress party’s Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

HC tells hospitals to record autopsies  
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed all government hospitals to videograph post-mortem of those killed during the communal violence. A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and I S Mehta asked authorities to collect and preserve DNA samples from all the bodies, and to not dispose of any unidentified body till March 11, the next date of hearing. Several bodies, believed to be riot causalities, have been recovered from the drains in Shiv Vihar.