‘We informed the beneficiaries that they have to return this amount if their dear ones return home alive’

Almost a year after 26/11, families of three fishermen on board the boat commandeered by the terrorists off the Gujarat coast are about to receive compensation from the state government. It's a modest amount - which the families will have to undertake to give back, should any of the fishermen return.

Ajmal Kasab and his Lashkar-e-Toiba colleagues boarded the trawler Kuber on their way to Mumbai. The body of Amarsinh Solanki, Kuber's skipper, was recovered from the boat. Kasab has said that the other three fishermen were killed and their bodies thrown overboard. But since the bodies were never found, technically, these three men are still only "missing".

“We have prepared the document on a Rs-50 stamp paper and informed the beneficiaries that they have to return this amount to the government if their dear ones return home alive in future. We have made three cheques of Rs 50,000 each,” Navsari taluka Development Officer B D Patel said.

The families of Mukesh Rathod (20), Balwant Tandel (34) and Natvar Rathod (30) have, however, long given up hope of their returning. All three have been symbolically cremated in their villages, Vansi and Borsi in Gujarat's Navsari district. The families live a hard life, working as daily wage labourers to make ends meet.

"My children have given up studies, and they now work as farm labourers. I asked Minister Mangu Patel to help my 20-year-old son Umesh get a job, but all we have got is assurances. This Rs 50,000 is hardly any help, I have two daughters to marry," said Balwant Tandel's widow Damyanti.

... contd.