C-701, Swaran Jayanti Sadan, Bishamber Das Marg, New Delhi-110001 May 18, 2002
Dear Home Minister, It is reported that some of the relief camps in Gujarat are about to be closed. A letter written by Shri Bharat Bharot, a Minister in the State Government has been made public. In fact some camps were closed following an order of the Collector of Dahod to the Mamlatdars of Dahod, Jhalod and Limkheda. We demand that no relief camp should be closed until appropriate infrastructure is provided for rehabilitation of the inmates. The victims are asked to return to their homes which were destroyed by the mobs and do not exist any more. Furthermore, they are attacked by the neighbours and there are pamphlets in wide circulation exhorting Hindus not to employ Muslims and to boycott muslim shops and businesses. In such circumstances where will they return to? There is indeed, a devious plan of the State administration to shift these victims as far away from Ahmedabad as possible and out of the public eye. We urge Government to spell out clearly the amount of compensation packages to the victims, the criteria for eligibility and the timeframe for paying the compensation. There are a number of cases where victims have been given cheques worth Rs.200 and Rs.300 where their entire house has been destroyed. A person cannot even open a bank account with such amounts and they are not sufficient to buy even a door much less any sort of house. We demand that the rule that calls for a death certificate or a corpse in order for the next of kin to qualify for compensation should be waived. This rule was waived for the victims of the earthquake. In the present case many bodies have been burnt or buried in mass graves making retrieval impossible. We urge you to direct the State Government of Gujarat to take immediate action as per the above suggestions so that the confidence of the people is restored and a measure of normalcy returns to that beleaguered State. We and most members of Parliament would like to contribute to this relief effort with funds available to us under Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). Government may permit us to do so. The situation in Gujarat is indeed a national calamity. Yours sincerely, Sd/- Eduardo Faleiro Sd/- Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav Sd/- Prof. Ram Deo Bhandary Sd/- Justice Ranganath Misra Sd/- Mirza Abdul Rashid Sd/- Smt. Sarla Maheshwari Sd/- Dr. Arun Kumar Sarma Sd/- Shri Kuldip Nayyar Sd/- B.S. Ramoowalia For any correspondence or clarification in the matter please contact Shri Eduardo Faleiro, M.P. at C-701, Swarna Jayanti Sadan, Dr. Bishamber Das Marg, New Delhi-110001 or on phone No. 3319395 or 9810028850, Fax No. 3752140, E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
