E-Paper
Telangana CM fulfils promise made to Galwan bravehearts, pays ₹10 lakh to kin of two jawans
Four days after the Galwan valley incident, KCR had announced a cash compensation of ₹5 crore to the family of Col Bikkumalla Santosh Babu, who led the forces in the valley and was killed in the clashes with Chinese forces.
Hyderabad
After a gap of nearly 21 months, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has at last found time to fulfil his promise of paying ex gratia to the families of brave Indian soldiers who lost their lives in clashes with Chinese forces at Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh on June 15, 2020.
KCR, as the Telangana chief minister is known, handed cheques of ₹10 lakh each to the kin of two soldiers from Jharkhand, who laid down their lives in Galwan clashes at a brief event held at the official residence of Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren at Ranchi on Friday.
Namrata Ojha, widow of soldier Kundan Kumar Ojha from Sahebgunj and a family member of another sepoy Ganesh Hansda from Singbhum district, received the cheques from the Telangana chief minister. They thanked KCR for the kind gesture, an official release from the chief minister’s office (CMO) said.
There are still 17 other soldiers who died in Galwan clashes, for whom the Telangana chief minister had promised to pay ex gratia of ₹10 lakh each. “There is model code of conduct in force in several states due to ongoing assembly elections. After the polls, the chief minister will extend help to other jawans as promised,” the CMO release said.
Four days after the Galwan valley incident, KCR had announced a cash compensation of ₹5 crore to the family of Col Bikkumalla Santosh Babu, who led the forces in the valley and was killed in the clashes with Chinese forces.
He also announced allotment of a residential plot and a Group-1 rank officer job to his wife Santoshi. He had fulfilled the promise made to Babu’s family within a few weeks.
In the same breath, the chief minister also announced that for the other 19 army men who lost their lives in the same incident, his government would give ₹10 lakh each through the defence ministry.
“The entire country should stand by the Military personnel guarding our country’s borders. We have to support those Martyred in their line of duty and help personnel’s family members. With such acts, one should instil self-confidence among the army personnel and security to the family members,” KCR said, adding apart from the Centre, the states should also extend their help to the bereaved families.
Though the chief minister made the announcement on June 19, 2020, there was no progress in the payment of promised ex gratia of ₹10 lakh each to the bereaved families of Galwan martyrs. The army officials in Hyderabad regiment took up the issue with the CMO and submitted the bank details of the 19 jawans.
An official in the Telangana government familiar with the development said the cheques were indeed prepared within the next two months, but there was no clarity on how they should be given to the families. “In the meantime, the validity period for encashment of cheques lapsed and the file remained pending,” the official said.
Now, after nearly 21 months, the authorities processed the file and prepared fresh cheques to enable KCR to pay them to the families of two soldiers belonging Jharkhand.
Interestingly, on November 3, 2021, KCR also announced payment of ex gratia of ₹3 lakh to each of the 150-odd farmers who lost their lives during the agitation against controversial agriculture laws on the borders of Delhi.
He said he would obtain the list of the deceased farmers and their other details from the Samykth Kisan Morcha and see that all of them would be paid the ex gratia. Subsequently, he went to New Delhi on November 21 and stayed there for three days, but the expected payment of ex gratia to farmers did not take place.
On Thursday, SKM leader Rakesh Singh Tikait met KCR in New Delhi and held discussions with him on the farmers’ issues. He told reporters later that he would hand over the list of the deceased farmers to the Telangana government by March 10, so that it could pay the ex gratia. He said the preparation of the list was delayed as the deceased farmers hailed from different states.
