New Delhi:
The government has approved a proposal to give an additional compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, triggered after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The decision was taken by the Union Cabinet at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday evening.
The announcement of the fresh compensation, which had been cleared by the Home Ministry last month, comes ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi, due early next year.
The compensation to the families of the riot victims will be in addition to what they have received so far from the government and other agencies, official sources said.
Of the 3,325 victims, 2,733 were killed in Delhi alone while the rest were from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.
The fresh compensation will cost the exchequer Rs 166 crore, sources said.
The anti-Sikhs riots were triggered after Mrs Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.