Government may allow public aid for injured jawans

NEW DELHI: Encouraged by the outpouring of donations to ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ corpus as assistance for the kin of Pulwama martyrs, the home ministry is considering allowing such contributions to also be made for personnel who suffer serious injuries or disability during operational duties. This will be in addition to the treatment costs that are fully borne by the government.

“A proposal to provide assistance during the period of recovery from injuries in addition to the treatment costs is under active consideration,” home minister Rajnath Singh said after inaugurating 28 projects for CAPFs here on Wednesday.

While the minister did not give out details, CRPF director general R R Bhatnagar later told TOI that even though a graded system of compensating personnel for injuries during operations — right from those resulting from stone-pelting to a permanent disability — was in place, it was now proposed to allow the general public to extend financial assistance to injured jawans via the ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ corpus.

As of now, public contributions through the corpus can only be made to martyrs from the eight central armed police forces (CAPFs) — CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, NDRF, NSG, Sashastra Seema Bal and Assam Rifles. Sources said there was a move to extend the contributions made to Bharat Ke Veer fund to paramilitary personnel who suffer a certain level of disability on account of injuries sustained on operational duty.

The projects inaugurated on Wednesday comprise 5,283 housing units, 71 non-residential buildings and 34 barracks built at a cost of Rs 1,895 crore and spread across 17 states, for CAPFs, Delhi Police and Central Police Organisations (CPOs).

Singh, while appreciating the valour, hard work and contribution of the jawans in providing security, recalled the various measures introduced by the Modi government to improve facilities and amenities for CAPFs. This includes free travel from Jammu to Srinagar and from Delhi to Srinagar and back for paramilitary personnel on duty/leave and enhancement of risk and hardship allowance for personnel deployed in J&K and Naxal-hit districts. He said CAPF personnel wounded in an operation and admitted to hospital were now considered on duty during the period of treatment. Besides, ex-gratia payable to a CAPF martyr has been raised to Rs 35 lakh from Rs 15 lakh.

The home minister said he has ensured that every martyr’s family gets a minimum Rs 1 crore as compensation and created the Bharat Ke Veer fund for this purpose. Also, private institutions are providing scholarships to martyrs’ wards.