Left to raise Godhra riot victims issue in Parliament

New Delhi, Dec 1 (UNI) The Left parties today said they would raise the issue of the ''pitiable condition'' of the victims of the Gujarat riots in Parliament.

''We will demand that the Manmohan Singh government pressurise the BJP-led Gujarat government to provide basic amenities like sanitation and drinking water to the Godhra riot victims who are living in pitiable conditions in relief camps in Ahmedabad,'' CPI(M) Floor leader in the Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharia told newspersons.

Mr Acharia, who led a delegation of the four Left parties, the Congress, the SP and the RJD, to inspect the relief camps in and around Ahmedabad yesterday, said they found that ''the state government had not spent a single paisa on the rehabilitation of the victims''.

The senior CPM leader, who was accompanied by party deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Salim Mohammad, said the state government had even returned Rs 19 crore to the Centre out of the rehabilitaion aid given to it by the central government.

The Left leaders said even those victims who got houses were living in very bad conditions as there were ''no roads, no medical facilities, no drinking water let alone schools or provision of health care.''.

''To our surprise, we found that the Gujarat government has done nothing to provide shelter to those who have been rendered homeless during the carnage. Even the houses for the victims have been built by the NGOs,'' they added.

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