17 yrs on, Guj govt announces Godhra relief

AHMEDABAD: Almost 17 years after the Godhra train burning incident, the Gujarat government on Thursday announced compensation of `5 lakh each for the families of 52 victims.

In an official release, the state government said the decision has been taken as per the Gujarat High Court order of 2017. The compensation will be paid from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

The Godhra train burning incident had led to one of the worst riots in the country in which around over 1,000 people, mostly of minority community, were killed in Gujarat in 2002.

Since seven of the 59 victims remained unidentified till date, a cumulative compensation of `260 lakh would be paid to the kin of the remaining 52 victims, the release said. The HC had asked the state government and Railways to pay compensation to the kin of those killed in the tragedy.