Chandigarh, November 23

The Grand Lodge of India (GLI), a fraternal association of eminent persons from all walks of life, will honour personnel of the armed forces and paramilitary forces who have laid down their lives recently while defending the country’s borders by giving five residential flats free of cost to the widows of martyrs.Widows of Army and paramilitary staff who have been killed in action undertaken after the September 2016 terrorist attack in Uri and those who have children would be eligible for getting the flat.The GLI has earmarked Rs 1.5 crore for the project from funds raised through donations from its members and other donors all over the country. The flats will be constructed in association with the President’s Gallantry Awardees Association of India.Association president SK Madan said the first such flat, a ready-to-move two-bedroom unit, is being given to the family of Havildar Satnam Singh of the Sikh Regiment, who was killed in Pakistan firing on the Line of Control earlier this month.Other recipients for the flats, which would be at a location of the beneficiaries’ choosing and preferably close to a military station, are being shortlisted. The flats would be registered jointly in the name of the widow and children and would be non-transferable till the youngest child attains the age of 21. — TNS