Militancy-hit want pension up

Our Correspondent

Abohar, March 8

Many families that were affected by militancy in the state have sought an increase in the pension amount. At present, these families are getting Rs 5,000 per month.

On March 7, 1990, five armed men had gunned down 31 locals and injured 80 by opening indiscriminate firing at Sadar Bazar.

The Rashtriya Suraksha Samiti, an NGO, which took up the cause of victims, has demanded that the monthly pension should be linked with price index. There has been a 15-fold hike even in the price for LPG cylinder over the years, but no hike in pension was granted.

Samiti secretary Sita Ram Sharma said deputations led by former minister and samiti chief Dr Baldev Raj Chawla and another former minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla had met successive chief ministers and union ministers. “We also sent reminders to the Union Government in December 2018, but the government last year pointed out that the matter was sub judice as a petition was pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” he said.

The victim families maintain that the successive governments had failed to provide justice to the militancy-hit people in Punjab. Their demand of suitable compensation had not been met till now, they said.

It is learnt that in 2006, the then CM had forwarded a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs and subsequent letters were sent in 2009, 2011 and 2014 to the PM for relief to the terrorism-hit families in Punjab. The proposal is pending with the Home Ministry, said sources.

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