By R Lester Makang
UKHRUL, April 4: In what could come as a big let down for the Rajasthan government, it has lately come to the fore that the Jaipur child trafficking victims from Ukhrul District who were handed over to the families some months back– are yet to receive the financial assistance it had provided as the documents have been returned for revalidation.
According to CWC Ukhrul Chairman Ngathingpam Zimik, the Rajasthan government last year provided cheques as financial assistance to 14 child victims out of the 19. Even then the said 14 victims could not get the benefits as the cheques got expired before encashment.
It may be mentioned that the Rajasthan government had last year issued a cheque of Rs. 10,000 each to all the victims toward rehabilitating them following their being rescued in March last year.
Expressing helplessness he further said that the cheques had three months validity but by the time CWC Ukhrul received the same, one month had already elapsed, while adding that on top of this, the cheques which were issued in favour of the victims parents bore incorrect names.
“And the process of correcting of the erronous names could not be completed within the two remaning months as the parents/guardians did have the necessary documentation and thus the validity had come to an end,” he continued and added “thus the cheques have been sent to the Rajasthan government and now we learn that revalidation of the cheques is going on.”
The victims will definitely get the monetary assistance when the process is completed, he assured.
It may be recalled that the 19 victims aged between five and fourteen from Ukhrul district were among the 51 rescued on March 12, 2013 in a raid at the illegal Grace Home run by pastor Jacob John in Jaipur.
The children were handed handed over to their respective families/parents on October 14, 2013 last at a simple fuction attended by Ukhrul DC, NGOs and civil society organizations of the district after months of rehabilitation.