People have right to know truth about Balakot airstrike: Gehlot
Jodhpur (R’than): Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Friday that people had the right to know about the truth behind the Balakot airstrike.
“The world media has been claiming that nothing has been found on the ground as claimed by India and creating confusion over the incident. Shouldn’t the people have a right to know and shouldn’t the government come out with a clarification so that the rumours and confusion could be put to end?” Gehlot told reporters in Jodhpur.
Instead of telling the truth, the Congress leader said, every person from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was engaged in tossing different versions, adding that it was intensifying the confusion and distrust.
“Those in power should address this suspicion instead of leveraging the incident for targeting the Opposition and winning election,” Gehlot said after a visit to the border areas with the Border Security Force officials and paying obeisance at the shrine of folk deity Baba Ramdeo.
The Opposition has been demanding that the Centre come out with the details, including the number of terrorists killed, of airstrikes by the Indian Air Force in Pakistan’s Balakot last week.
The chief minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had behaved “irresponsibly” when questions are being asked about the number of casualties in the airstrike. “In such a situation, statements of the prime minister should be such which could infuse trust, boost confidence and strengthen unity among the country and fellowmen. But, instead of this, he has behaved very irresponsibly both in words and demeanour.”
Gehlot accused Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah of diverting national discourse in order to win the election. “But people have understood what has been happening around today and would reply by their votes in the election.”
Asked about fielding his son, Vaibhav Gehlot, in the upcoming general election, the chief minister said every decision about the candidates would be taken by the party high command and he would follow their decision. PTI
Pulwama attack: Families of slain CRPF personnel paid over Rs 1-cr ex-gratia
New Delhi, Mar 8 (PTI) Families of the 40 CRPF personnel, killed in a recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, have been paid over Rs 1 crore ex-gratia funds till now as per service rules, the force said Friday.
Officials said the ‘next of kin’ of these slain personnel will also get an additional ex-gratia amount that has been announced by various state governments, where the troops hailed from, in a case-to-case basis.
A total amount of over Rs 1.01 crore has been paid to the families of the 40 personnel who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack on February 14, an official from the force said.
He added that this amount includes Rs 35 lakh given by the central government as ex-gratia to the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel killed in the line of action, Rs 21.50 lakh under the risk fund, Rs 15 lakh from the ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ corpus and Rs 30 lakh from the SBI paramilitary service pay insurance cover.
The families additionally are also being provided financial benefits from various government and non-government agencies even as some institutions have volunteered to take care of education of the wards of these personnel, he said.
“Liberalised Pension Award (LPA) is being given to all the 40 families and this amount equals to the last basic pay plus dearness allowance drawn by the killed personnel. This amount will be paid lifelong,” the official said.
He added that while in some cases, the ‘next of kin’ of the killed personnel have been offered jobs by state governments, they are also eligible for compassionate appointment for jobs in the CRPF.
The force is soon going to launch a special mobile application which has been designed specifically for redressal of grievances relating to the families of killed personnel of the force. This will be launched soon, he said.
The 40 CRPF personnel were travelling in a force bus when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus on February 14.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has deployed as many as 61 battalions in the state, with about 65,000 personnel, and is the lead counter-terrorist and internal security force in the Kashmir valley. (PTI)
Press Trust of India
