(a) whether a large number of applications pertaining to compensation for Kuwait war victims
are still pending with the Special Cell set up in the Ministry of External Affairs;
(b) if so, the number of applications pending, State-wise;
(c) whether the Government has sought extension of date for submission of applications in
this regard;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the steps taken for expeditious payment of compensation to the applicants?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI E. AHAMED)
(a)-(b) The last date for submission of claim applications as decreed by the United Nations
Compensation Commission (UNCC) was 1st January, 1996. After this date, UNCC stopped accepting
any claim applications. A large number of people had written to Government and still continue
to write for compensation. These letters had come from all parts of the country.
(c)-(e) Yes. The Government of India requested the UNCC to extend the prescribed date of
submission of applications on several occasions. UNCC expressed its inability to accede to
the requests of Government of India and of many other claimant countries for extension of
the deadline of 1st January 1996 for acceptance of new claims. In early 2006, the Government
has advertised the names of untraced claimants whose claims had been approved by the UNCC,
but whose latest address had not been intimated by them. In response to this, we received a
large number of letters from claimants included in this list. Names of all untraced claimants
who have intimated their new addresses by the 20th of August 2006 were sent to the UNCC for
expeditious payment of compensation to them. Most of these traced claimants have already
received their dues. This process of payment of compensation to the traced claimants will
be over by February 2008.