MP: Claims tribunal members to visit violence-hit Khargone on Apr 26 to assess damages

Two members of a claims tribunal set up to assess and recover damages from those involved in communal violence during the Ram Navami celebration in Khargone will visit the Madhya Pradesh city on Tuesday, officials said.

Local administration relaxed the curfew in Khargone for nine hours - from 8 am to 5 pm - for the third consecutive day on Monday and allowed opening of the agriculture market.

Violence had taken place in Khargone on April 10, following which curfew was clamped in the city.

The claims tribunal head, retired district judge Dr Shivkumar Mishra, and member Prabhat Parashar, who is a retired state secretary, will visit Khargone city on April 26, said an order issued by Additional Collector S S Mujalda.

The order also stated that staffers were allocated for the functioning of the claims tribunal.

The Madhya Pradesh government earlier this month constituted the two-member claims tribunal, as per provisions of the Public and Private Property Recovery Act-2021, for hearing cases pertaining to the assessment of damages during the violence in Khargone city.

Since April 14, the local administration has been relaxing the curfew for some hours.

As per the district administration's order, the curfew relaxation will not be applicable to petrol pumps, religious places and for the sale of kerosene from Public Distribution System (PDS) shops.

During the curfew relaxation period, shops selling milk, vegetables, medicines, and barber's shops among others, are allowed to remain open.

Communal clashes had erupted in Khargone city during the Ram Navami celebration on April 10, during which shops and houses were damaged, vehicles torched and stones hurled.