Gujarat govt says will meet Vankar kin’s demands

The family members of Dalit activist Bhanuprasad Vankar, who immolated himself, have agreed to take his body for last rites after the Gujarat government assured them of compensation and said it would meet their demands, the state authorities have said.

The family has been assured that all the benifits would reach them on Monday. The state government has decided to give Rs 4 lakh out of a total of Rs 8 lakh to dependents of Vankar as compensation under the anti-atrocities Act and to initiate a probe in the case.

The government gave the assurance through a draft on Sunday evening to the family.

Chief secretary JN Singh, while speaking with DNA, said, “The family of Bhanuprasad has agreed to take the body for the funeral from the post-mortem room of Gandhinagar civil hospital. They were convinced by the assurance of the state government. The dependents of Bhanuprasad will get the compensation while the family demanding land will get the land with 7/12 extracts on Monday itself.”

“Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has already made the announcements on Saturday and the same has been promised to the victim’s family members. The probe in the case also will start soon,” added Singh.

The victim’s dependents insisted that the government should give the assurance in writing and the same has been followed by Gujarat government.

In the morning yesterday, social justice and empowerment minister Ishwar Parmar had gone to Gandhinagar Civil Hospital to placate the family members but that effort didn’t yield any results as the family refused to meet with the minister.

Later in the afternoon, the minister of state for home, Pradipsinh Jadeja, had held a meeting at his office in Gandhinagar with senior officials from the home department and the police force.