the money, which will be adjusted for inflation since 2015, will be put into a state fund and used for projects and initiatives in the area impacted by the dam collapse.
A punitive assessment for the emotional damage from deaths and destruction of personal property on a grand scale, including the environment the damaged parties live in, is entirely appropriate.
Levying it under that pretense, but putting it in a discretionary fund under purview of government is essentially a 100% tax on the damages done to the victims.
Claiming it will be used to benefit those victims is a whitewash... It never goes to the victims unless it's awarded to them.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the punitive assessment, my objection is purely to the recipient.
I remember in 2011 passing the village below the dam - now under the red mud - a disaster waiting to happen, obvious even to a bus passenger. That local bus in which I traveled was run by the same mining company, who employed most people around there. If that's still the case, suppose they'll still control what's done with the fund money.