2 years on, kin of firing victims pick up the pieces

Tuticorin: After a long wait, 19-year-old G Jeniston had a pleasant surprise on Thursday, a day before his father K Gladston’s second death anniversary. He has finally got the job assured by the Tamil Nadu government on compassionate grounds following the death of his father in the police firing on anti-Sterlite protesters in Tuticorin on May 22, 2018.

Jeniston has been appointed as VAO assistant of Veppalodai village. He had completed Class X four years ago and started working to support the family when the firing took away his father’s life. “I was drawing Rs 3,000 a month as a crane cleaner then,” he told TOI on Friday.

The lad could not get the job on compassionate grounds earlier as he could not fulfil the age requirement. The government handed over Rs 20 lakh as relief to the family, of which Rs 5 lakh went to Gladston’s mother. With Rs 15 lakh he repaid loans to the tune of Rs 5 lakh, built a small house for the family and deposited Rs 5 lakh in the name of his sister Jenista, 18, now a first year BBA student.

However, the family began to struggle when he lost his job two months ago due to the lockdown. On Thursday, he joined duty soon after receiving the appointment order from the district collector. P Prabhu of the Anti-Sterlite Thoothukudi District People Federation, who is in touch with the families of the firing victims, said the government gave jobs to 21 people on compassionate grounds including the badly injured. Another victim was Sermaraj, who was long hospitalised for a bullet injury in the leg. Though he was appointed as helper in the noon meal scheme, the Rs 2,500 monthly salary was not enough to meet the expense of transportation to work and he had to turn down the offer.

“The 19-year-old son of victim Antony Selvaraj is awaiting the appointment order,” Prabhu added. Relatives of Shanmugam – a youth who was killed – turned down the Rs 20 lakh relief as well as the government job.

The one-member retired justice Aruna Jagadeesan commission formed to probe the 100th day protest and police firing has completed examining 492 people in connection with the incident at 20 sittings till date. Around 400 more crucial witnesses are yet to be examined.

On Friday, the second anniversary of the tragedy was observed by lighting candles and paying floral tributes to the victims.

‘They (victims) gave us the clear air to breathe’ read the boards erected for the memorial. M Krishnamoorthy, a key representative of the federation who had also played an active role in the anti-Sterlite protests, said they are dejected over the delay in getting justice.