Admitting for the first time that soldiers were killed in the anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, Army authorities have sought details of such victims and called for speedy compensation for the next of kin.

The Rehabilitation and Welfare Section of Ceremonial and Welfare Directorate, Adjutant General’s branch in the Army Headquarters in Delhi, sent a note to various Commands and Regiments that as many as 34 Army personnel (including one ex-serviceman) were killed in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. And that all efforts be made to report on the progress of their compensation cases with respective state governments in tune with the package announced by the Centre in January 2006.

That Rs 700-crore package includes Rs 3.5 lakh as compensation for families of the dead, Rs 2 lakh as a rehabilitation grant to each family uprooted, Rs 2500 as monthly pension to widows and preference to children and relatives of the victims in recruitment to Government jobs. A quarterly feedback from all was sought starting June this year until the grant of compensation is completed.

An official spokesman for the Army, when contacted, told The Indian Express: “All possible measures are being taken to give adequate rehabilitation package as per the policy to the affected families of Army personnel killed during 1984 riots.”

Said Pratap Singh Phoolka, a retired Army officer who has been leading the campaign and is identifying such cases on his own: “The untimely delay caused by the Army in this regard has caused immense damage. Parents of many such unmarried victims have also died in these 25 long years. Who will get the compensation now?”

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