Kolkata, April 16 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday, announced compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the three victims of violence in Murshidabad during protests against the Waqf Act. “A total of three persons from two families have been killed in the violence. Their families will be provided with a compensation of Rs 10 lakh,” the Chief Minister said on Wednesday afternoon while addressing a meeting with the religious leaders of the Muslim community in the state. The meeting was convened to prepare the blueprint on how to oppose the Waqf (Amendment) Act. At the same time, she announced that the state government would provide houses under the state government’s scheme to those whose houses had been destroyed in the violence. “I heard that besides houses, some shops were also vandalised. Their owners will also be provided with compensation. The Chief Secretary, Manoj Pant, will review the financial loss because of such vandalism. The compensation will be provided based on that,” the Chief Minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, she also referred to the recent order of the Supreme Court upholding a previous order of the Calcutta High Court cancelling a total of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run schools in West Bengal. The apex court also accepted the argument of the Calcutta High Court that since the state government and the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) failed to segregate the “genuine” candidates from the “tainted" ones, the entire panel of 25,753 jobs had to be cancelled. “The joint conspiracy by the BJP and CPI(M) on one hand and a somewhat one-sided approach of the court had resulted in such a huge job loss,” the Chief Minister said. WBSSC had already approached the apex court seeking a modification to the order.

In the petition, WBBSE has claimed that till the time the fresh recruitment process as directed by the court last week is completed, those candidates who have been identified as “genuine” should be allowed to attend to their jobs. However, there is confusion on this particular plea by the boards since the apex court last week accepted the earlier observation by the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel of 25,753 appointments had to be cancelled because of the failure on the part of the state government or the commission to segregate the “genuine” candidates from the tainted ones.

/IANS