The state is struggling to track down the legal heirs of blast victims, many of whom are migrant workers.
One out of every three victims who perished in the triple bomb blasts that rocked Mumbai on July 13 does not have seem to have any kin to claim the compensation, the city collectorate has discovered. That many of them are poor labourers from other states, don’t even have bank accounts, and have no safety nets as such, underscore the lot of the poor migrant in a city like Mumbai.
Compensation has so far been paid to the legal heirs of only 15 of the 23 who died in the terror attack. And even ten days after the blast, the state has been unable to establish contact with the legal heirs of seven victims. Either the hospital records are not complete, or ascertaining the legal heir has proved to be difficult.
Three of the dead are migrants from Rajasthan, West Bengal, and Bihar, and therefore it has been difficult to contact their legal heirs. In a couple of cases, the family is in dispute over the right to the compensation.
Among the dead, the heirs of Arun Jaiswal, Prabhat Naik, Mohan Naik, and Gumansingh Rathod have still not approached the government authorities. An official from the city collector’s office said that they will contact the collectors of the respective districts the victims hailed from, in order to ascertain the legal heirs.
The requisite letters will be dispatched early next week. The collector’s office will be paying Rs7 lakh to heirs of each of the dead, including the compensation of Rs2 lakh announced by the central government.
“We will look at the concerned district collector’s report to decide on the legal heirs of the deceased. To be on the safer side, we are drawing the cheques in the names of all the competent beneficiaries. Where the victim is survived by the wife, father and mother, the cheques are drawn in the names of all three,” said the official.
The Maharashtra government has also announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs3 lakh to survivors who have suffered permanent disabilities. But they will be entitled to it only after they produce certificates from competent authorities, and it may take 5 to 6 months for the payments to be disbursed. None of the victims who fall in this category have received any help till date.
The collectorate also needs to track down patients with minor injuries who were discharged within 24 hours. Of the 28 such victims, so far only seven have claimed the compensation of Rs10,000.
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