Rs 1,000 cr for 1984 riot victims

New Delhi: Step into Vidya Rani's modest home in South Delhi and memories of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots come back in a flash ? the arson, the loot, murder, pain and tears.

The 55-year-old widow cannot forget how her husband Jaswant Singh was beaten to death along with four other family members. Along with her daughters, she was hounded out of their house.

Vidya Rani was given Rs 20,000 as compensation by the government. Fifty other families like hers were resettled in this cramped locality.

However, now the government is trying to make amends. A Rs 1,000-crore relief and rehabilitation package has been formulated and sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his approval.

The Union Home Ministry has drawn up a proper compensation package for the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims. IBN Correspondent Sumon Chakrabarti gives you an exclusive glimpse into the report.

The relief package, which even provides job opportunities, is expected after the PM's SAARC trip to Bangladesh next week.

However, for Vidya Rani the relief package is little solace. "Money is fine, but this is blood money. They cannot bring back my husband, my happiness,? she says.

The package may have been prompted by the damaging Nanavati report on anti-Sikh riots that indicted some senior Congress leaders.

Last month, the Centre also directed the CBI to reopen cases against these leaders who have been named in Nanavati Commission report.

However, the sentiment that runs along this narrow lane is the relief is ?too little, too late?.

Gurcharan Singh Gill, who lost 10 of his family members in the riots, including his father, an engineer, rues his lost childhood.

"This money will help us now, but I lost all my education and that cost us heavily. We cannot mix in the right circles in the society because we are illiterate."

For now, even though it comes 21 long years later, the packages are a welcome relief for the victims of the riots.

But for most of the members the community they have one big question. When will they get justice and will those named in the Nanavati Commission report ever be punished?