Nandigram massacre revisited, a year on

NO RESPITE: It's exactly a year since the violence that killed 14 people in Nandigram.

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Keywords: Bandh, Violence

Nandigram: It's exactly a year since the violence that killed 14 and injured more than 150 people in Nandigram.

Thirty-year-old Tapasi Das was hit by a bullet when she tried to resist police entering her village in Nandigram. Since then this mother of four has spent all her savings on her treatment.

Apart from the physical torment, it is the government’s inability to pay the compensation of Rs 1 lakh that is worrying her.

Tapasi says, "All my hopes about government compensation are fading away. I am not even fit enough to beg. I can't imagine what future has in store for me."

Tapasi and the families of other dead and injured in Nandigram received words of sympathy from Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and social activist Medha Patkar on the first anniversary of the firing.

Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi also turned up to listen to their plight.

The Bengal government, however, says it's waiting for a Supreme Court order on correct identification of the injured and rape victims for compensation.

West Bengal Advocate General Balai Roy says, “The state government is always agreeable to pay compensation. But whom shall I pay? In one of the writ petitions 36 persons have been identified that they have been injured. In one petition, many more.”

After CPM cadres recaptured Nandigram November 2007, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been trying to bring peace. But his efforts are yet to gain the trust of a large number of villagers.

The Bengal government's dilemma in compensating the injured could be valid on legal grounds.

But at the humanitarian level, the delay is proving to be the biggest barrier in the government's efforts to win over broken hearts.