CHIEF MINISTER KHATTAR HIKES COMPENSATION FROM `20 LAKH TO `50 LAKH AFTER PROTESTS BY SOLDIERS’ RELATIVES

ROHTAK: The mortal remains of BSF head constable Rai Singh Indora, 39, were cremated with full sate honour at his native village, Kheri Sampla, in Rohtak on Tuesday.

HTSecurity personnel placing the Tricolour on the body of head constable Rai Singh who died in cross-border shelling in Jammu region, and (below) guard of honour being given to the martyr, in Rohtak on Tuesday.

Indora was killed in mortar shelling by Pakistani Rangers in Rajouri sector of Jammu on Sunday night, in which seven other troopers were injured. He is survived by his wife and three school-going children. He had joined the BSF in 1995 in 163rd Battalion.

The Haryana government announced `20 lakh ex-gratia and government job for the next of kin of Indora, besides naming a park at his village in his name.

The announcement was made by Haryana’s transport minister Krishan Lal Panwar, who attended the cremation, along with cooperative minister Manish Grover .

However, villagers and kin of the soldier questioned the state government’s policy of announcing different compensation for martyrs. Indora was the third jawan from Haryana to die in ceasefire violations by Pakistan after India carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control. While the families of previously martyred BSF head constable Sushil Kumar and Army jawan Mandeep Singh Rawat were promised `50 lakh as compensation, Indora’s got `20 lakh. Angered by the government’s move, angry villagers blocked National Highway 10 at Sampla in Rohtak for some time.

Indora’s brother Ramesh Kumar, who retired from the BSF, said: “When the BJP minister (Panwar) visited our home, he said he will make an announcement at the cremation. Here, he didn’t even speak to us and left after announcing whatever he wished. Rai Singh has three little sons who can’t work now. How will the family survive?”

When Panwar was ques tioned by the media on the compensation , he said increasing the amount was under state government’s consideration. Earlier, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who attended the cremation, said the government must announce `50 lakh compensation. To pacify the protesting villagers, the local administration came back to hold talks with the villagers and the family. In a late evening development, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar hiked the compensation to the soldier’s family to `50 lakh as desired by them.