Compensation for victims of civic negligence: BMC

Taking serious note of the spate of incidents where people have died after falling into open drains and trenches, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be framing a compensation policy for victims.

Taking serious note of the spate of incidents where people have died after falling into open drains and trenches, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be framing a compensation policy for victims.

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The civic body already has a compensation policy in place for tree-fall victims and has decided to compensate victims of civic negligence, too.

“If someone has died due to the negligence of the BMC, then his family must be compensated,” additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta said.

He said if a person dies, the victim’s family could be compensated Rs 1 lakh and if the person was injured or rendered disabled after the incident then the amount could vary depending on the seriousness of the lapses. “We will formulate a policy on this soon,” Gupta said.

Local corporator Niyaz Vanu has already demanded compensation for the family.

Meanwhile, corporator of Worli, Parshuram Desai, has applied for ex-gratia help for the family of Tushar Jadhav, 9, who died in November 2010 after falling into an open drain. Tushar’s father, Shailesh, is an office assistant with a private firm and mother Shanti works as a maid.

“These incidents are clearly due to the BMC’s negligence. If the BMC can compensate victims of tree falling, why not in these cases?” Andheri corporator Rajul Patel said.