Orissa: after the pogroms, Christians get a fraction of the damages
Bhubaneshwar, India, 11 June 2013: "In the Kandhamal context, the central and state
governments in India have failed to discharge their constitutional mandate to protect
the fundamental rights of citizens," said Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, archbishop
emeritus of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, as he presented AsiaNews with a report whose findings
show the gross inadequacy of state and national compensation offered to the victims
of the violent incidents of 2008.
Released last Friday, the study, titled
Unjust Compensation: Assessment of Damage and Loss of Private Property during the
Anti-Christian Violence in Kandhamal, India, was authored by the Centre for the Sustainable
Use of Natural Resources (CSNR, in Bhubaneshwar) and the Network for the Right to
Housing and Land (HLRN, in New Delhi). The two NGOs presented their work in cooperation
with the Church and the Red Cross.
According to the study, the Orissa government
paid out money only in the case of deaths and damaged or destroyed houses. All other
type of property-land, personal valuables and furniture, documents, farm equipment,
tools, and food reserves-were excluded from the compensation package. This, the prelate
said, "has seriously damaged people who suffered almost total ruin."
As the
study indicates, the problem is that there are no policies in the country, at the
state or national levels, to settle such losses.
The issue of compensation
also goes for destroyed or damaged places of worship. "The government," Mgr Cheenath
noted, "says it cannot fund the rebuilding of damaged churches and religious facilities
because India is a secular country."
In the past, the bishop had presented
a petition to the Supreme Court, asking for 30 million rupees (about US$ 500,000)
to repair damaged Church buildings.
Even though, the court ruled in favour
of compensation, the government has only devoted a fraction of the funds originally
requested.Source: AsiaNews