The Gujarat government today agreed to provide riot victims with the opportunity to file individual FIRs naming culprits, set up special committees to record statements of women who have suffered excesses, and take steps for the reconstruction of damaged shrines.The decisions were taken at a meeting CM Narendra Modi had with about 40 Muslim leaders and a National Commission for Minorities team. Modi’s Security Adviser K.P.S. Gill and senior officers were also present. Modi assured the Muslim leaders that the government would not allow the possession of their shrines by Hindus. The CM said a three-member committee, comprising local women social workers, would be constituted in each affected district to record complaints relating to excesses on women. The committee would submit its report to the police so FIRs could be registered.He also announced that the government would form a committee to ensure the kith and kin of those reported missing in the riots received compensation. Under the existing rules, the government waits six years to provide death compensation, but in these cases, the rule would be waived.It was also decided that NCM member Shamim Kazim and chairman of the National Minorities Finance and Development Corporation Kari Mohammad Mazhari would coordinate with the government for speedy and effective implementation of the Rs 150-crore rehabilitation package announced by Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee.Two NGO representatives would also be asked to monitor the resurvey of damaged properties following a spate of complaints of under-assessment and inadequate compensation to riot victims. Modi announced that relief camps would not be shut down until the inmates were rehabilitated properly.NCM vice-president Tarlochan Singh said the minority leaders at the meeting drew the attention of Commission members and Gill to several Muslim victims being prevented by local villagers from returning to their houses, and also to the police refusing to register FIRs against individuals involved in the violence.
