The financial aid announced by the state government to the victims of the Chala gas tanker lorry disaster was distributed by Rural Development Minister K C Joseph at Chala on Monday. The families of those who were killed in the tragedy were given Rs 10 lakh each by the minister. The close relatives of 17 of the 20 persons killed in the disaster received the assistance from the minister. The relatives of three of the victims couldn’t reach Chala to receive the compensation as they were in hospitals.
The minister said that it was the Indian Oil Corporation, which was bound to pay compensation to the victims and that the state government had directed the IOC to do so, but since the release of the funds needed to implement the compensation package from the IOC was a time-consuming process, an amount of Rs 3 crore was sanctioned from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the purpose. The amount spent as relief package has to be reimbursed by the IOC later, clarified the minister.
K Sudhakaran MP, MLAs Sunny Joseph, K K Narayanan, A P Abdullakutty and other officials were present at the function held near Chala temple, to distribute the aid to the victims.