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Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young yes­ter­day de­fend­ed Gov­ern­ment’s $1 mil­lion ex-gra­tia pay­ment to each of the vic­tims of the Paria Fu­el div­ing tragedy, in the face of con­dem­na­tion from oth­er po­lit­i­cal par­ties.

He al­so clar­i­fied who tru­ly tied Gov­ern­ment’s hands and pre­vent­ed the vic­tims’ loved ones from re­ceiv­ing any com­pen­sa­tion soon­er.

Af­ter meet­ing and greet­ing stu­dents and sup­port­ers of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) while walk­ing along Bel­mont Cir­cu­lar Road to file his nom­i­na­tion pa­pers at the Bel­mont Sec­ondary School yes­ter­day, Young faced tough ques­tions from the me­dia on the $5 mil­lion pay­out to the Paria vic­tims.