By IANS,
Raipur : Chhattisgarh’s Bharatiya Janata Party government has agreed in principle to grant pension to about 200 people arrested in the state under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the emergency period 1975-77, a senior minister said Friday.
“The state cabinet has agreed in principle to a proposal that will be implemented in the state after studying the policy drafted by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to grant pension to the MISA detainees,” Brijmohan Agrawal, revenue and law minister, told IANS.
He said as per a rough draft prepared by the state government, those who had spent over six months in jail would get Rs.6,000 per month while the detainees held for three to six months would get Rs.3,000 amount as pension.
The state government would soon get the draft of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan policies for studying and giving a final shape to the proposal. Officials put the figures of MISA detainees in the state at around 200.
“Only those who were detained for political reasons during emergency period would be entitled for pension,” the minister said, adding “those arrested for criminal cases would be left out from the pension scheme”.
Chhattisgarh’s pension scheme for MISA detainees is likely to benefit a large number of erstwhile Jan Sangh and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers, who were jailed during the emergency.