Paperwork for all compensation claims cleared except 1: Officials

new delhi: The Delhi government has processed the paperwork for all compensation claims filed by victims of the north-east Delhi riots in February except for one compensation application, a senior official in the Revenue Department said. However, officials have said despite completing the paperwork for all the 3,000-or-so compensation claims, the Delhi government is yet to disburse compensation amounts for some claimants.

The senior Revenue official said Rs 21.46 crore in compensation amount had been disbursed so far to the beneficiaries. The official added that most beneficiaries had received the compensation but some were pending due to lack of funds with the government.

In Seelampur, around 300 forms were processed with the disbursal of the full compensation amount before lockdown. Most cases that were processed during this time were of people whose homes were damaged during the riots.

Another senior official, quoting official records, said that Rs 7.82 crore has reached beneficiaries in the Seelampur sub-division while Karawal Nagar applicants had received Rs 6.72 crore as compensation from the state government. "In the Yamuna Vihar sub-division, we have disbursed Rs 6.92 crore till now. There are some cases where the paperwork has been processed and approved but due to lack of funds the compensation amount cannot be sent," the official said, adding that they were yet to zero-in on the exact number of such pending applications.

Officials aware of the matter said that 1,200 applications were resolved right after the riots had ended –– between February-end and the beginning of March — while some paperwork took place in May after Delhi began to Unlock. During July and August, government officials processed around 1,800 applications, taking the total number of applicants to over 3,000.

"Only one application has not been resolved either because there is a lack of documents or it is a false claimant," the official in the revenue department said.

Out of the Rs 21.46 crore, most compensations have been given for residential and commercial damages — complete and partial loss of property. The total figure may change once the state government has the monetary revenue to disburse the pending compensation amounts, the official said. "Due to the lockdown, the state has suffered immensely economically," another official from the department said.

"Due to the corona and lockdown, the tax collection of the Delhi government is running low at about 85%. Delhi has not received any funds from the Disaster Relief Fund released by the Centre to the remaining states," Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had written on Twitter after the city started unlocking in a graded manner in May.

Court filings showed that till March 21, Rs 17.35 crore was disbursed by the Delhi government in compensation amounts to victims of the riots. After the riots, the government had promised to extend compensation of up to Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those who had lost their lives, Rs 5 lakh for permanent incapacitation, Rs 2 lakh for serious injuries, Rs 20,000 for minor injuries, and Rs 5,000 for animal loss. In cases where complete damage has been caused to residential units, Rs 5 lakh is supposed to be extended while Rs 2.5 lakh for substantial damages and Rs 25,000 was to be given out in cash after spot verifications. In the case of uninsured commercial units, Rs 5lakh was to be given as compensation.

The state government had set a deadline of July 25 for all riots victims to submit the applications for compensation as several victims could not complete the paperwork due to the COVID-19-induced

lockdown.