Delhi govt disburses over Rs 16 crore to tragedy victims between 2019-24

New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) Over the past five years, the Delhi government has extended financial assistance to several people in distress, including those in need for their daughter's marriage, gang rape survivors, victims of fire accidents and families of those affected by riots, drowning, and other tragedies.

According to an official document accessed by PTI, the LG/CM Relief Fund, managed by the Finance Department, supported about 345 individuals between 2019-20 and 2023-24, disbursing a total of Rs 16.6 crore.

In the financial year 2019-20, the financial aid was released to 220 people. This mostly included Rs 20,000 to people approaching for their daughter's marriage. During the same year, 39 people who were next of kin of the deceased people at the Anaj Mandi fire incident received Rs 8 lakh each as monetary help from the government. In addition to that, 16 people who were injured in the fire incident received Rs 50,000 each as compensation from the government.

The fire incident was one of the deadliest accidents in the past few decades at least, which occurred in a bag manufacturing factory in the Sadar Bazar area in 2019, claiming the lives of around 40 people and injuring several others. The fire occurred when workers were sleeping inside the factory.

In 2019, the government also released Rs 15 lakh to the father of deceased Ankit Saxena, who was murdered in 2018. Ankit, a professional photographer, was allegedly stabbed to death and his throat slit near his house in Raghubir Nagar by the family members of his girlfriend, Shehzadi, as they were opposed to their interfaith relationship.

Three deceased from a fire incident in Jhilmil, Shahdara, were also given Rs 5 lakh each in the same year. Another Rs 10 lakh was released to the mother of a child rape victim, and Rs 8.2 lakh was given to a rape victim in 2019.

In the next financial year (2020-21), family/relatives of the four minor boys, who drowned in the Yamuna river in 2019, were given aid Rs 8 lakh. The minors were all aged between 12 and 14.

In the same year, Rs 8 lakh was paid to the father of a child victim of a sexual act, and Rs 15 lakh to Telangana from the CM Relief Fund. Overall, 45 people were given financial assistance in that fiscal year.

Next year, in 2021-22, the number of beneficiaries was 41. During this pandemic time, the government compensated Rs 10 lakh to the wife of a person who died due to a cardiac attack while on duty at Swami Dayanand Hospital in the Dilshad Garden area. A gangrape victim had also received a similar amount. One distressed family consisting of seven siblings who lost both their parents due to COVID-19 received Rs 1 lakh.

In the FY 2022-23, the government assisted 30 people; one of them was the family of Sakshi, who was brutally stabbed to death by her boyfriend in Northwest Delhi's Shahbad Dairy in the middle of a market. The entire incident was caught on a CCTV camera, where the accused could be seen continuously stabbing and then crushing the victim's head with a concrete block. The family was compensated Rs 10 lakh by the government.

As per the report, during 2023-24, the fund was provided to only 12 people/entities; these included four people belonging to the next of kin of the people who lost their lives in the 2020 riots. PTI SSM AMJ AMJ