Sigachi victims’ families paid less than half of Rs 1 crore compensation promised: Harish Rao

BRS leader T. Harish Rao criticised the Telangana government for failing to fully disburse the promised Rs 1 crore compensation to families of Sigachi industrial fire victims. He alleged discrepancies in payments and demanded immediate release of pending amounts.

Hyderabad: BRS deputy floor leader T Harish Rao castigated Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy over failure to honour his promise of Rs 1 crore compensation to families of victims in the Sigachi industrial fire accident. He demanded that the government fulfil its promise without further delay.

He also demanded that the government attach the assets of the company’s directors under the Revenue Recovery Act and ensure immediate payment of Rs 1 crore compensation to each family. He questioned the government’s inaction against the management, with arrests delayed until the court’s intervention.

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In a statement, Harish Rao reminded that the Chief Minister had publicly announced Rs 1 crore compensation for each affected family during his visit to the accident site. However, he said a written reply in the Assembly, revealed a stark gap between the promise and the actual disbursal.

As per the written reply, a total of Rs 24.51 crore was paid so far to the families of 54 workers who died in the fire. This translates to an average compensation of about Rs 45.4 lakh per family which is less than half of the promised amount. Around Rs 54.6 lakh per worker which amounts to a total Rs 29.48 crore remains unpaid.

The BRSLP deputy leader accused the government and the company management of inflating compensation figures by including statutory benefits such as PF, ESI, and insurance payouts. “These are the workers’ legal entitlements, not compensation from the company,” he said, terming the practice inhuman and misleading. He also cited deductions of medical expenses from the compensation amount and alleged that families of eight victims, whose mortal remains could not be identified, struggled for months to obtain death certificates.

Calling the incident a result of gross negligence, Harish Rao cited findings that the factory allegedly operated beyond permitted capacity and lacked basic safety measures, including fire clearances and functional dust control systems. “The company obtained permissions for machinery with 818 HP capacity, but operated 1,777 HP. Despite the management’s failure to maintain basic safety measures, the Congress government did not initiate any stringent action,” he added.