By IANS
Kolkata : The West Bengal government will pay compensation to families of all those who died in the March 14 violence in Nandigram irrespective of whether they were killed in police firing, veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu said Friday.
“The West Bengal government will pay compensation to all those killed in the March 14 violence in Nandigram. Even those who died in bomb explosions will be paid compensation on humanitarian grounds,” Basu told reporters after emerging from the Left Front committee meeting at the CPI-M headquarters on Alimuddin Street.
Fourteen people had died in the March 14 violence in Nandigram in East Midnapore, around 150 km from Kolkata. The state government had earlier said the compensation proposal would be restricted only to the eight families whose members fell to police bullets.
The CPI-M patriarch said the government’s foremost priority would be to ensure peace in Nandigram. “We are continuing peace talks with various parties to ensure that peace prevails in Nandigram,” he said.
Regarding the compensation package for the victims, Basu said, “It is for the government to decide but we want everybody to get compensation.”
State Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray Wednesday ruled out paying compensation of Rs.500,000 each to the victims’ families as demanded by Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), spearheading the anti-land acquisition protests in Nandigram.
The BUPC wants the government to follow the Andhra Pradesh compensation model for Khammam victims.
The CPI-M has opposed compensation package for only Nandigram victims and demanded damages for all the victims of land war.
The demand for compensation had figured in peace talks senior East Midnapore officials had with Trinamul Congress MLA Subhendu Adhikary and other BUPC leaders Oct 22.
At least 25 people have died in Nandigram since January this year when the region erupted in protest over proposed land acquisition for an SEZ, including a chemical hub, in collaboration with Indonesia’s Salim group.