Right’s body accuses Bengal govt of discriminating against Teesta flash-flood victims

Kolkata: Leading human rights group, Association for Protection of Democratic Right (APDR) has forwarded a communique to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) accusing West Bengal government of discriminating against the Teesta River flash flood victims.

APDR General Secretary, Ranjit Sur, said that the affected victims of Garfur Busty, Teesta Bazar, numbering eight families were not compensated with the amount of Rs 75,000 which the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had disbursed at an administrative programme on December 8 last year.

“There are complaints about some non-genuine beneficiaries availing the compensation and hence there was clear discrimination in award of the compensation, where collusion of panchayat officials with the alleged fake victims became apparent,” Sur said.

In the communique to the NHRC, the APDR has also said that in absence of a proper rehabilitation programme many victims are still forced to stay in deplorable conditions at makeshift shelters in a community hall of Teesta Bazar.

“Moreover, the victims happened to belong to an economically weaker section as most of them were daily wagers that were dependent on river based economic activities like quarrying on Teesta River Bank.

“Closure of quarries by district administration affected their livelihood and they are staring at starvation and malnutrition issues in near future,” said the APDR communique to NHRC.

The association has also requested the commission to depute an inspection team and address the grievances of affected victims more comprehensively including speedy compensation, rehabilitation and restoration of their livelihood through resumption of quarry at Teesta River bank.