The Punjab Cabinet led by the Chief Minister Captain
Amarinder Singh on Monday gave ex-post facto approval for payment of
subsistence allowance @ 10,000 per month, with effect from October 24, 2019,
for family members of eight of the 27 Punjabis killed in Mosul (Iraq) in
2014.
While seven cases of the cases relate to the parents of
the deceased, one is the wife of a Mosul victims who was not eligible for
job on compassionate grounds under the state policy. The Cabinet also approved
the grant of lifetime subsistence allowance to these affected families.
It may be recalled that in the tragic incident, 39
Indians were kidnapped and killed by ISIS in Mosul (Iraq) in 2014. The bodies
of the deceased were exhumed and DNA tests were conducted, following which the
mortal remains of 27 deceased Indians from Punjab were brought back to Amritsar
on April 3, 2018.
The deceased hailed from eight districts, namely
Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Sangrur,
Kapurthala and Gurdaspur.
On the directives of the Chief Minister, an ex-gratia of
Rs.5 lac each to 26 dependent family members has already been disbursed from the
CM’s Relief Fund, and as per records, one victim from Jalandhar had no legal
heir.
The state government has also already provided employment
to one dependent family member each of the victims, as per their educational
qualification and government's policy, besides ex-gratia amount of Rs. 5 lakh.
As per information received from the DCs of Amritsar and
Kapurthala, seven cases from Amritsar and one case of Kapurthala were not
covered under the policy, where job on compassionate grounds could not be provided
to the family members as the deceased’s wife rejected the job offer and desired
that it may be given to her minor son (now of 11-12 years of age).
However, the Cabinet gave ex-facto approval for grant of
monthly subsistence allowance of Rs. 10,000 per month to them from October 24,
2019, and also gave its concurrence for grant of lifetime subsistence allowance
to the victim families.
APPROVES
AMENDMENT TO ‘PUNJAB VICTIM COMPENSATION SCHEME, 2017’
The Punjab Cabinet also gave approval to the draft notification
of ‘Punjab Victim Compensation (First Amendment) Scheme-2017’, to grant
compensation to the victims of transfusion of HIV positive blood due to medical
negligence. The amendment will also enable recovery of the compensation amount
from the accused, for which the Superintendent of Police of the concerned
district would file an application in the court and thereafter Director,
Prosecution and Litigation, Punjab, shall pursue the case.
Notably, Member Secretary, Punjab State Legal Services
Authority, taking notice of the incident regarding transfusion of HIV positive
blood to a patient in Bhai Mani Singh Hospital, Bathinda, had filed a CWP-PIL
No. 205/2020, titled as Punjab State Legal Services Authority vs. State of
Punjab and Others in Punjab and Haryana High Court, whereby an amendment in
Punjab Victim Compensation Scheme, 2017 for providing the compensation to
victims of transfusion of HIV positive blood due to medical negligence under
the said Scheme was sought.
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The State Government had implemented the Punjab Victim
Compensation Scheme, 2017 for providing compensation to the victims of various
crimes, such as acid attack, rape etc. Out of the funds received under the said
Scheme, the Punjab State Legal Services Authority allocates the requisite
compensation to the victims.