Lucknow, Aug 12 (IANS): The National Minority Commission has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to give compensation to the kin of those who are untraceable since the 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar, an official said Tuesday.
The issue was discussed Monday in a meeting between the chairman of the commission Naseem Ahmed and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
The chairman, accompanied by member Fareeda Abdullah Khan and secretary Surjit Chowdhary, told the chief minister that the panel was of the view that "compensation should be awarded" to those missing for more than three months, the criterion which was followed by Uttarakhand government to award compensation to relatives of those who went missing in the 2013 flash floods.
When told by the chief minister and senior UP government officials that the state government was committed to rehabilitate the riot victims in Muzaffarnagar and that all was being done to bring the perpetrators of the riots to justice, the panel members told them that they had enough and credible information that many riot victims were still not willing to return to their homes out of fear.
The panel asked state officials to prepare a list of people missing for more than three months and ensure a financial compensation package for them. The panel also took stock of the communal flare up in Saharanpur recently.
More than 63 people were killed and thousands rendered homeless in the 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar.