Kin allege discrimination in ex-gratia to Sigachi blast victims

The kin of eight workers missing after the Sigachi blast have alleged discrimination in the release of ex-gratia and demanded payment of the remaining Rs 75 lakh. They met the Sangareddy Collector seeking intervention over delays linked to death certificates.

Sangareddy: The kin of eight Sigachi victims, whose bodies were not traced after the Sigachi blast, demanded that the government direct the Sigachi Private Limited management to pay the remaining Rs 75 lakh ex-gratia promised to them without any delay.

The family members accused the management of showing discrimination while releasing the ex-gratia to the families of deceased workers. While the management had released Rs 50 lakh ex-gratia to the 46 employees whose bodies were traced at the blast site, the kin of eight missing persons, who were also declared dead, have received only Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia so far.

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Accompanied by Telangana Praja Sanghala Joint Action Committee district chairman Y Ashok Kumar, the family members of Rahul Sharma, G Venkatesh, Silveri Ravi, Shivaji Kumar, Vinay Kumar Nishad, Akhilesh Kumar Nishad, Irfan Ansari and S Justin met Collector P Pravinya during the grievances day at the Collectorate on Monday and presented her with a representation, seeking her intervention in this regard.

The victims’ kin said that the management was delaying the ex-gratia payment citing the non-issuance of death certificates by the government. Though the government had assured issuance of death certificates within three months after the incident on June 30, they said the process had not been completed even after six months.

TPJAC district chairman Ashok Kumar said that the victims’ kin had been running from pillar to post to obtain the death certificates and the remaining ex-gratia. He alleged that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and officials had failed to do justice to the victims.