Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena on Thursday distributed appointment letters to 47 victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots at West Delhi’s Tilak Vihar, Raj Niwas said. It also said that six additional letters will be issued to the nominated successors of those beneficiaries who have passed the service age, during the interim period.

The move comes after a four-decade delay after Saxena recently relaxed the qualifications for recruiting victims of the 1984 riots. This decision, pending for decades due to procedural delays and insensitive bureaucracy, allowed a larger number of candidates to secure jobs, becoming eligible for the same decision.

Addressing the people on the occasion of this colony, which primarily houses the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the LG said that the remaining 437 cases of appointment applications are being verified and directed the Revenue Department to organize camps special to remove these requests. the earliest.

Saxena said that this event, more than anything else, was a moment of satisfaction as it finally led to justice being served. He also announced that the specific colony housing the victims of the Sikh riots, which was tragically named Vidhwa Colony (widows colony), would be renamed as per the recommendations of the local residents.

It may be noted that various groups, public representatives, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and a delegation of the victims themselves met the LG last month and requested him to consider all eligible applicants, including those who would he could have aged or died for the draft.

After this, Saxena directed the concerned departments to look into the issue with empathy and suggest a way forward. He later endorsed the proposal to relax recruitment qualifications, noting that the 1984 riots were a stain on Indian democracy.

He observed that given the trauma and significant hardships endured by the victims of the 1984 riots and the absence of relief for several families in the last 4 decades, a humanitarian vision is needed.

While no amount of relief can compensate for the loss of loved ones and alleviate the trauma faced by the families of the victims, it is imperative that we have a compassionate vision for the well-being of these families and their economic stability.