Young inheritors who got lakhs counselled for wise investments

Mangesh, who is currently pursuing a technical course, said the administration had deposited the cheque at the Ghodegaon branch of Bank of Maharashtra as a fixed deposit of five years. He would continue to get the interest. “I have to look after my mother. Till now, at least, relatives have not started hounding me for any money,” said Mangesh.

With huge compensation amounts going to these individual survivors, most of them too young, the administration finds itself responsible for giving wise advice to them.

Santosh Dangat (20), a Class XI pass and unemployed, has been awarded Rs 42.4 lakh after almost all his relatives died in the tragedy. Officials said even though the amount would go into a fixed deposit, he would need guidance for right investment.

District Collector Saurabh Rao, who is the nodal authority on the rehabilitation of Malin victims, said even as the district administration was disbursing the initial compensation amount, they had roped in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences for counselling. “These people are in a state of shock, we have arranged for their counselling. In addition, we are also helping them with wise investments. We have received an initial amount of Rs 2 crore towards compensation from the state government and we have already disbursed the amount among nearly 40 persons. We are awaiting the remaining amount,” he added.

Officials said there were cases coming up of relatives offering to take care of these survivors only because the fixed deposit amount would fetch an interest of nearly Rs 50,000. “We have asked the survivors to tread cautiously,” said an official.

After the locking period of five years, the beneficiaries are free to withdraw the amount. “We do not want them to make unnecessary investments like in fancy cars or other such things. The TISS staff is constantly counselling them and helping these people,” said an official.

Ashwini Pote (18), a student, lost her parents and other family members and will be getting Rs 51 lakh as compensation. Her brother Namdeo Pote, who is working in Mumbai, said: “We have been counselled and asked to invest wisely as we both are very young and have no other support. I would want to educate my sister well.”

The administration has already started corporate training for those unemployed. “There has been one round of discussion on the work profile and we have made separate records of the survivors with their education details. These people will be given work according to their educational qualification and we would ensure that they make wise investments,” said the official.