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Govt approves additional compensation to 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims

by IBNS 10 Dec 2014, 07:57 pm

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IBNS): The government finally approved a proposal to give an additional compensation of Rs. 5 lakh each to the kin of victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, media reports said.

The move was taken by the Union Cabinet at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday evening.

The anti-Sikh riots were triggered after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She was Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

The announcement of the fresh compensation came ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi due early next year.

The proposal for an additional compensation to riot victims had already been cleared by the Union Home Ministry last month, reports said.

The fresh announcement of compensation will cost the exchequer Rs. 166 crore.

Out of the 3,325 victims in 1984 Sikh riots, 2,733 were killed in Delhi alone while the rest were from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.