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Indians dead in Iraq: In Bengal, families fume over no compensation, Trinamool blames Model Code due to Panchayat polls

As the remains of two workers from Nadia district of West Bengal – Khokon Sikdar and Samar Tikadar – were brought back from Mosul in Iraq where they were killed by ISIS, family members of the two said on Tuesday that there was no compensation or job offered by the state government.

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amily members of Samar Tikadar, one of the Indians abducted by the ISIS in 2014, mourn after his mortal remains arrived at his home in Nadia district on Tuesday. (PTI)
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As the remains of two workers from Nadia district of West Bengal – Khokon Sikdar and Samar Tikadar – were brought back from Mosul in Iraq where they were killed by ISIS, family members of the two said on Tuesday that there was no compensation or job offered by the state government.

While Khokon was a resident of Tehatta, Samar hailed from Chapra area, 30 km away from Tehatta.  

“We have just completed the last rites of Khokon but what adds as insult to injury is that the state government had not talked about any compensation and Khokon’s daughter has been offered a contractual job in the khadi department for which she would have to travel over 50 km to reach office, everyday. This is what we are worried about,” said Subhash Biswas, brother-in-law of Khokon.

Samar’s wife, Dipali Tikadar, too said that there had been no intimation to her about any monetary compensation or job. Her family members said that she was living in a squalid condition with her two children. “They have two kids – a 14-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter. The only source of income is the salary of Rs 4,800, which Dipali earns as the state government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) worker. It would do them good if she gets a permanent government job,” said a family member.

Sankar Dutta, Trinamool Congress MLA from Tehatta Gouri, spoke to DNA and said that they could not announce any compensation because of the model code of conduct for Panchayat elections was effective. “Neither can we give them a permanent government job because it is done through public service commission. We have given the daughter of one of the two a job in the MSME department,” he said.

They had been to Iraq in search of jobs, in 2011 and after everything remaining normal till 2014, when they went missing and speculations were afoot that they had been abducted by IS outfit members. They were hoping that the two would return home but in early February this year when their kids were taken to the local BDO office for collection of blood samples for a DNA test they were all apprehensive that the two had been killed.

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