Ksan mine tragedy: MLA enquires about compensation

SHILLONG: Rajablala MLA Azad Zaman on Wednesday met the officials of the Revenue and Disaster Management department to enquire about the victims of Ksan mining tragedy not getting any further compensation from the department.
After meeting the officials, Zaman said that it was clarified to him that there is no rule to award compensation from the department.
However, it was informed that the victims of the tragedy can get further compensation from the political department which is being headed by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma.
“Now we will have to approach the political department,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the families of the victims so far have received a compensation of Rs 3 lakh, including Rs 1 lakh from political department and Rs 2 lakh from Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. As most of the 16 victims who were killed in the tragedy belonged to Rajabala, the local MLA Azad Zaman had earlier demanded Rs 20-25 lakh as compensation for each.
The Supreme Court earlier this year allowed the state government’s plea seeking its permission to call off one of the longest search and rescue operations to retrieve the bodies. Only two bodies could be brought out while another was detected but could not be retrieved.