Senior BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Avinash Rai Khanna today said the Centre has accepted the recommendations of the Justice GP Mathur Committee that was constituted to look into the various grievances related to the 1984-anti-Sikh riots. Based on this, Avinash Rai Khanna said that the Punjab government has been asked to reopen the cases for verification, of the affected families of the 1984-riot so that these families can claim the grant of Rs 2 lakh as per the scheme.Justice GP Mathur committee submitted its recommendations in December 2015 and necessary orders to the state government were issued in May this year.
Avinash Khanna said,"the Punjab government has also been asked to formulate a scheme for providing facilities for up-gradation of skills to affected family members. The Committee had recommended a scheme for up-gradation of skills for the families without putting any restriction on the number of family members who may wish to avail the scheme.The issue was raised by Avinash Rai Khanna, who during a special mention in the Rajya Sabha in February last year, had demanded the constitution of a committee to identify families of victims of 1984-riots and resolve their problems. In response to that, Union Minister of State for Home affairs, has said that the Centre has accepted the recommendations of the Justice Mathur committee. The Punjab government has been asked to verify claims of 1984-riot hit families within the next three months. The state government will distribute the amount which will be reimbursed by the Centre, Khanna said.In pursuance of the recommendation of Justice Nanawati Commission, a rehabilitation package was announced by the Centre on January 16, 2006 with a view to provide relief to the victims of 84-riots. This scheme provides ex-gratia amount in each case of death during the riots, ex-gratia amount in cases of injuries, damage to residential and uninsured commercial, industrial property and rehabilitation grant to migrant families.