Punjab cabinet okays jobs for kin of 4 minors killed in Maur blast

The cabinet has relaxed rules to provide jobs to a family member each according to educational qualification in Bathinda or adjoining districts as a special case

The Punjab government on Friday approved special provisions in the rules to provide government jobs to one of the family members/kin of each of the four minors killed in the Maur Mandi bomb blast of January 31, 2017.

Seven people were killed and 13 injured in the blast at Maur Mandi in Bathinda district on January 31, 2017. (HT file photo)

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

It was decided to grant special provision on compassionate grounds according to the educational qualifications of one member each of the families of Japsimaran Singh, 15, s/o Khushdeep Singh; Sourav Singla, 14, s/o Rakesh Kumar; Ankush, 11, s/o Gian Chand; and Ripandeep Singh, 9, s/o Kala Singh.

The rules do not provide for employment in state service on compassionate grounds for minor deceased. The cabinet decided to relax the rules to provide jobs to a member each according to their educational qualification in Bathinda district or adjoining districts against direct quota vacant posts as a special case.

The jobs provided by the state government are in addition to the financial grant of ₹5 lakh each to the families of each of the deceased. The injured got ₹50,000 each from the chief minister’s relief fund.

Seven people were killed and 13 injured in the blast at Maur Mandi in Bathinda district. The state government had earlier provided government jobs to the next of kin of two deceased, Harpal Singh, 40, s/o Teja Singh, and Ashok Kumar, 35, s/o Babu Ram, as per the existing policy, since both were the breadwinners of their families. In Ashok Kumar’s case, his daughter, Bago, 11, was also killed, but since one member of the family has already been given a job, Bago has not been included in the special provision approved on Friday.