HINDUSTAN TIMES, LU —a_ JULY 28, oe sec eaeaet No end to woes of court blasts’ victim LONG WAIT Anup Kumar Chaubey yet to get information under RTI about Centre's ex gratia announced for those affected in 2007 Nera blasts ‘Anurag Singh ‘ aruraag singhhindstamtines. com VARANASI: It has been over three months since Anup (86), victim of the November 23, 2007 twin blasts in Varanasi, had filed an RT! petition with the state government but the reply is still awaited. Anup Kumar Chaubey had sustained severe injuries in his ears and legs in the blasts that had killed 9 people and injured scores others. ‘After spending a week in the Varanasi Divisional Hospital, Chaubey had received a cheque of Rs 50,000 as compensation from the state government. ‘The man, who works as a clerk for an advocate at ‘Varanasi Civil Court, has two daughters and a wife to look after. He finds it hard to eke out a decent living out of his earn- ings, a part of which is still spent on his treatment. Tt was a year ago when he ‘came to know that the Centre had also announced an ex gratia of Rs 50,000 each to those injured in the blasts. Chaubey wrote to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in March 2010, detailing about his plight. He urged the PM to help him get the compen- sation so that he could over- come his financial crisis. aia A = Anup Kumar Chaubey Responding to Chaubey’s letter, PMO sent a letter to ‘UP Chief Secretary on March 18, 2010 stating if Chaubey ‘came under the category of critically-injured victims of the blasts who were entitled for the Rs 50,000 compen- sation, the desired details of the applicant be sent to the PMO so that the sum could be released to him, Unable to get the com- pensation from the Centre or any reply from the state government, Chaubey filed an RTI application with the PIO ofthe UP Chief: Office on April 24, 2010. nthe application, Chaubey sought information detailed daily progress report on the matter, the time limit stipu- lated by the government for disposing of such important, matters along with a copy of the circular concerned besides action which had been taken against the officials ‘Such a behaviour with bomb blast victim sill ‘gal, which is why we will ‘now appeal to the appel- late inthe case DR LENIN RAGHUVANSH! Exeoutve directo ofthe PVC who had not erftertained the matter within the stipulated time along with details of department action. But, even after more than three months, still no reply has come from the state gov ernment. Under the RTI Act, it is mandatory for the au ity (to whom the application has been addressed) to send areply to the applicant with- in 30 days. Alocal human rights group Peoples Vigilance for Civil and Human Rights (PVCHR) has come to Chaubey’s helj and has decided to appeal to “This kind of behaviour, particularly with a bomb blast vietim, is not only unwar- ranted but illegal, which is why we will now appeal to the appellate authority in the case,” Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi, executive director of the PVCHR told HT on Tuesday. /