New Delhi, June 3
The Punjab Congress has urged the government to provide relief to terror-affected persons in Punjab on the pattern of relief announced by the Centre for victims of the anti-Sikh violence of 1984.
Punjab Congress chief Shamsher Singh Dullo today met Congress president Sonia Gandhi with a delegation of terror-affected families to seek relief for them from the Centre. Mr Dullo said they would soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the demands.
Mr Dullo said there were nearly 25,000 terror-affected families. “These people stood for peace and opposed separatism. Many of them were Congress workers,” he said. The PCC chief said most of the work for the victims of terrorist violence had been done by former Chief Minister Beant Singh.
Terrorism-affected persons who included representatives from All India Terrorist Affected Association, Delhi, Punjab Playan Karta Sangarsh Samiti and Punjab Migrants Welfare Society said a relief of Rs 714 crore had been announced by the Centre for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and relief on similar lines should be provided to them.
They said most of those affected by terrorist violence belonged to the minority community in the state. Apart from a demand for grant of Rs 2 lakh, the memorandum submitted to the Congress president by terrorism-affected people sought compensation for those who had sold property at low rates out of fear in the years of terrorism.
Seeking house at
concessional rates, the memorandum said that cost of house should be recovered in 25 years and loans taken by terrorist-affected people should be waived off.
The memorandum said cases of terrorism-affected families who had not been issued cards should be re-examined. It sought subsistence allowance of Rs 4000 for
terrorism-affected people with disability.
