Promised compensation for 04/21 attacks delayed

COLOMBO (News 1st): The government claims that steps have already been taken to compensate the victims of the 04/21 attacks. However, the victims of the incident allege that the government has to date, not provided some of them with any sort of compensation. Crishentia Perera, a resident of Katuwapitiya, Negombo is one of the few who sustained heavy injuries in the Katuwapitiya Church blast. She breathed her last yesterday (June 20) while receiving treatment at the Negombo hospital. Her son, Dr Sanath Perera and his wife Indeera Perera, died on the spot in the explosion at the Katuwapitiya Church. Relatives of Crishentia Perera said that she did not receive any form of compensation during the two months that she was being treated at the hospital. When News 1st made an inquiry from the Katana divisional secretary on the claims made by her relatives, the divisional secretary of Katana, K.G.H.H. Kiriella said that they had approved her name as a beneficiary to receive compensation for her injuries and that the relevant forms were submitted to the reparations office. He continued to say that the office had informed them of a payment of Rs. 100,000 being made after inquiring into the matter a couple of times. He added that the reparations office is to be held responsible for this shortcoming. The document given over to the reparations office includes the names of 230 victims of the attacks who should be compensated. News 1st correspondent visited several houses in the vicinity to inquire as to whether or not they received the compensation. The people complained that there were anomalies in the system as it had granted compensation for the relatives of those injured and not their relatives, while some others stated that they have not received a single cent although they filled out multiple forms for the matter. They added that the excuse made by the officials was that their details filled out were not clear.