We Have No Orders to Save You - Human Rights Watch

Gujarat in January 2001. 220 The Gujarat government has yet to account for how it is spending the Prime
Minister’s additional Rs. 150 crore relief fund. 221
A series of government orders following these announcements ultimately resulted in the following breakdown of
compensation amounts. 222
Compensation for death
Rs.1 lakh [100,000] (U.S.$2,128)
Compensation for injury Rs.1,000 – Rs.50,000 (U.S.$21 - $1,064)
Loss of household items (ghar vakhari) Rs.1,250 (U.S.$27)
Cash for affected people not in camps Rs.15 per day (U.S.$0.32)
Ex-gratia payment 223 Rs.5,000 – Rs.10,000 (U.S.$106 - $213)
House reconstruction support
Maximum of Rs.50,000 (U.S.$1,064)
Compensation for loss of
4% of annual income
employment/livelihood
Compensation for Damages to Homes
The Rs. 50,000 (U.S.$1,064) compensation for damaged homes, already low compared to the Rs. 90,000
(U.S.$1,915) amount commissioned to rebuild homes post-earthquake, 224 was interpreted by the state as a ceiling
and not as a fixed amount. 225 As a result, even in cases where homes were completely destroyed the maximum
amount of Rs. 50,000 was not awarded. 226 Compensation was calculated on the basis of a survey conducted by
the local revenue officer and an engineer. Though many family members in Ahmedabad were present for the
survey of their homes, they were unaware of how the damage was calculated. By contrast, in Sabarkantha district,
many were absent during the damage assessment survey. They only realized that a survey had taken place once
they received a check. 227 The Citizens’ Initiative-sponsored report, Rebuilding from the Ruins, claims that
surveys were also not standardized. 228 When India’s Election Commission visited Gujarat in August 2002, it
found what it termed to be the “general apathy of the administration in handling this most sensitive issue of
restoration of the places of habitation of the affected persons” and cited cases where the relief sanctioned for a
completely destroyed house was as little as Rs. 200 (U.S.$4). 229 The Citizens’ Initiative report adds that, “unfair
and unjust compensation has added to the sense of betrayal and humiliation that people feel towards the State.” 230
On April 25, 2003, fifty-eight-year-old Babulal Abdul Hamid received a check for Rs. 2,000 (U.S.$43) for
damages to his three homes and his kerosene shop. He had estimated his loss at Rs. 800,000 (U.S.$17,021).
Within minutes of receiving his check, Hamid suffered a fatal heart attack. 231 Thirty-year-old Mira Banu told
Human Rights Watch that her family did not receive anything in the way of support from the government. Mira
220 P. Sunderarajan, “Rs. 150 cr. for rehabilitation,” The Hindu, May 2, 2002.
221 A writ petition was filed before the Gujarat High Court asking, among other things, that court order a complete accounting
from the Gujarat government of the Rs. 150 crore rehabilitation package. Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crime Against
Humanity, vol. II, p. 125
222 Table reproduced from the report, HIC, YUVA, Rebuilding from the Ruins, p. 17.
223 An ex-gratia payment is a payment made to an individual for loss or damage to personal property in a situation where the
party making the payment admits no liability for the loss or damage.
224 HIC, YUVA, Rebuilding from the Ruins, p. 74.
225 Mander, “Before it is too late.”
226 HIC, YUVA, Rebuilding from the Ruins, pp. 73-74.
227 Ibid., p. 73.
228 Ibid.
229 Election Commission of India, “Press Note,” p. 32.
230 HIC, YUVA, Rebuilding from the Ruins , p. 32. For a comprehensive analysis of violations of the right to housing—as
interpreted by international and Indian law—and its application to the rehabilitation of victims of violence in Gujarat see
Ibid., pp. 10–15, 90–102.
231 Palak Nandi, “With paltry compensation, Govt deals riot-affected a body blow,” Indian express online, May 7, 2003
[online], http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=17151 (retrieved May 20, 2003).
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 43 JULY 2003, Vol. 15, No. 3 (C)