Tamluk, Dec. 30: The government has handed over compensation cheques to the families of 13 of the 14 persons killed in the March 14 firing.

District magistrate Anup Agarwal said one body had yet to be identified.

Nandigram I block development officer Santiram Gorai toured Sonachura, Kalicharanpur, Southkhali, Jalpai, Keshabpur and Parulbari yesterday and today with the Rs 5-lakh cheques.

Calcutta High Court had on November 16 asked the government to pay the compensation within a month.

Agarwal said: “We distributed the compensation in accordance with the order.”

The court had also asked the government to pay within a month Rs 1 lakh each to 162 people who had been injured. Three rape victims were to get Rs 2 lakh each.

Asked about them, Agarwal said he had not got any instruction from the government.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the state had requested a three-judge bench to set up a committee to prepare a list of the injured. But no such panel was formed. The apex court would hear the case again on January 28.

The Trinamul Congress-led Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee said it would file a contempt case against the government for violating the court’s order.

Nine families from Kalicharanpur, Southkhali, Jalpai and Parulbari received the cheques yesterday. Three from Keshabpur Jalpai and Sonachura got them today.

“Does Rs 5 lakh compensate the death?” asked Sukumar Jana, 45, who lost his wife Supriya, 36. “We want peace for a normal life.”

When armed CPM activists recaptured Nandigram on November 11, Jana was allegedly beaten up and forced to join a CPM “victory procession”.

The BDO faced trouble when he went to Sonachura today over who would get the cheque for Joydeb Das. His father Haradhan died 10 years ago and mother Bindubala in October. Joydeb’s elder brother Sukdeb claimed the cheque, but his unmarried sister Sandhya got it.