Somaiya to observe hunger strike against delay in 26/11 relief

Mumbai, Nov 6 : BJP leader Kirit Somaiya today said he will observe a hunger strike to protest the delay in release of relief cheques to 26/11 terror attacks victims.

He said out of the 403 dead and injured victims of the 26/11 carnage, the Centre had released relief cheques to only 118 till date.

'This behaviour of the government towards the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims is very callous. I will observe a hunger strike from the first day of the new Legislative Assembly session to protest against the attitude of the state government and get the relief before the first anniversary of 26/11,' Dr Somaiya said while condemning the apathy of the state government towards the victims, at a press conference here.

In the Status Report filed by the Maharashtra government with the Human Rights Commission during the hearing of the petition of Dr Somaiya on November 4, the state government had accepted the inordinate delay to implement the relief and rehabilitation packages to the terror victims.

The Relief & Rehabilitation Ministry of the state govrenment is yet to send 79 proposals of the victims to the Prime Minister's Office. Regarding another terror victim package of the Union and State Governments, out of 403, not a single victim has received any help till now. Cases of 194 victims are yet to be submitted by the state government to the Centre.

Under the Prime Minister and Centre's Rehabilitation Package, a victim is eligible to get around Rs five lakh.

Dr Somaiya yesterday met Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T K A Nair at Delhi, who agreed to expedite the relief.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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