Church leaders say PM, CM have not delivered on Kandhamal

Church leaders on Saturday alleged that promises made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of providing adequate relief to those affected by the 2008 riots in Orissa's Kandhamal district had not been fulfilled.

Church leaders on Saturday alleged that promises made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of providing adequate relief to those affected by the 2008 riots in Orissa's Kandhamal district had not been fulfilled.

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"Both the Prime Minister and chief minister have not fulfilled their promises to the victims immediately after the riots and the people have been left to their fate," Cuttack-Bhubaneswar diocese Archbishop Raphael Cheenath told reporters in Bhubaneswar.

Demanding full compensation for re-building damaged houses, he said that the administration arbitarily fixed Rs 50,000 for fully destroyed ones even though reconstruction cost was much more.

"Altogether 5347 houses were damaged and over 75 people were killed in the riots, but the government is not giving compensation to all the affected," he said.

Stating that the victims could not be allowed to live through another summer and monsoon without shelter over their heads, the archbishop said "I will have no hesitation in again approaching the Orissa High Court or the Supreme Court if the miseries of the people are not ameliorated."