The Election Commission of India has allowed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to hand over compensation to the victims of the Garden Reach building collapse or their families but added that any increase from the “extant” compensation amount given to disaster victims will need a nod from the panel.
Metro has gone through a copy of the letter.
The state government had written to the chief electoral officer of Bengal, the commission’s representative in the state, asking whether the KMC could hand over Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the family of each of those who died in the collapse and Rs 1 lakh to each of the injured, officials of the KMC and the state government said.
The amounts mentioned in the letter were more than the usual compensation fixed by the state for disaster victims — Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
The state government’s letter was based on what the KMC had sought to know from the state.
Calcutta mayor Firhad Hakim had announced Rs 5 lakh in compensation for the family of each of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh for each injured after the building’s collapse.
The BJP had flagged this as a violation of the model code of conduct, in force since the declaration of the Lok Sabha poll dates, and written to the commission saying a government official such as the chief secretary should have announced the compensation, instead of the mayor, who is a political person.
The party did not object to the higher-than-usual compensation.
Officials said the commission’s letter, issued on March 23, mentioned that the compensation (ex-gratia) could be given but any increase from the current rates would need its permission.
The letter said: “Ex-gratia payments and gratuitous relief in the aftermath of a disaster can be given directly to the persons affected at the current rates/scales of assistance presently in force, under intimation to the Commission. No change in the extant and prescribed scales of payments, however, shall be made in the existing rates/scales without prior permission of the Commission.”
The letter was signed by Rakesh Kumar, the secretary of the Election Commission of India, and addressed to Bengal’s chief electoral officer.
KMC sources said a decision would be taken in a day or two on whether the compensation would be handed to the victims or their families following the existing rates or the state government would seek the election commission’s permission for an increase.
Twelve people were killed in the collapse and many were injured. The KMC is still working on removing the rubble from the site of the collapse.
Rupasree
The election commission, in the March 23 letter, has allowed the disbursement of a one-time assistance of Rs 25,000 to new beneficiaries of Rupasree, a scheme under which the state government gives a grant to women aged 18 or more and are about to marry. No “fanfare or ceremonies” can be held and “political functionaries” cannot be involved in giving the grant, the letter said.