Speaker to govt: Time to have a policy on relief for kin of unnatural death victims

NT Correspondent

Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker Vis - veshwara Hegde Kageri has suggested to the state government to come out with a clear policy on giving compensation to families of those who die under unnatural circumstances across the State.

He made the suo motu statement on Wednesday when Shivanand Patil of the Congress and Lingesh of Janata Dal (Secular) urged the government to announce the solatium for families of road mishap victime on the lines of compensation given to the families of victims of the bus mishap in Pavagada taluk of Tumakuru recently.

Patil said six persons from his constituency had died while they were on pilgrimage to a neighbouring state on March 16. He said Rs 410 crore lies in the Road Safety kitty of which only Rs 10 crore has been spent. The same fund could be used to pay solatium to the victims’ families. Lingesh said five college students had died on the spot when a speeding bus rammed against the car in which they were travelling.

Transport Minister B. Sriramulu said with regard to the Belur accident, according to the preliminary report, the students were driving the car in a zig-zag manner and dashed against the KSRTC bus which was coming from the opposite direction. The bus driver has given a similar statement. However, he would discuss the issue of giving compensation to the kin of the accident victims with the authorities concerned and take a decision.

At this juncture, Patil and Lingesh questioned the government for being selective in distributing compensation and demanded that the same compensation be given to accident victims in their respective constituencies since the families were poor.

The Speaker then sought to know from Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C.Madhuswamy whether the government had any policy while announcing the compensation in cases of unnatural death. The minister replied in the negative and said the government cannot go on giving compensation to victims’ families as there are scores of unnatural deaths daily. The solatium is given if victims belong to the unorganised sector or are very poor, he clarified.

The government gave compensation for the Pavagada bus tragedy as the victims hailed from poor families and a majority of them were students, he added. This angered Patil who got into an argument with the minister.

JD(S) Leader H.D. Kumaraswamy agreed that the government cannot pay compensation in all accident cases. When he was CM, he had given compensation when 19 persons died after a bus fell into a canal in Mandya district.

The compensation was decided purely on the basis of humanitarian concerns and the condition of the families affected, he explained.