PM Modi announces ₹10 lakh ex-gratia payment for kin of Indians killed by IS in Mosul

The bodies of 38 construction workers kidnapped and murdered in Iraq by the Islamic State returned home on April 2 four years after their disappearance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced an ex-gratia payment of ₹10 lakh for each of the families of 39 workers killed by the Islamic State in Iraq.

Relatives of construction worker Surjeet Mainka, who was killed in Iraq, grieves over his coffin in Chuhar Wali village on the outskirts of Jalandhar on April 3, 2018.(AFP)

The announcement comes after Congress MPs from Punjab staged a protest in Parliament demanding compensation for the workers killed in Iraq.

Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh on Monday brought the mortal remains of 38 of the 39 Indians killed in Iraq. Later, the Union minister even visited the Amritsar to hand over bodies of 27 workers from Punjab.

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday said the Punjab government declared an ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh, a job for one family member and the continuation of the monthly pension of ₹20,000 for the families of the deceased workers from Punjab.

Last month, Sushma Swaraj informed Parliament that the 39 Indian workers abducted by IS from Mosul in 2014 had been killed.