State rolls back relief to martyr's kin

State rolls back relief to martyr's kin
SAIKAT DATTA

PUNE, APRIL 28: Much after the guns on Kargil have stopped booming, the Maharashtra Government has officially rolled back its compensation to war casualties from Rs five lakh to Rs two lakh.

Considered by many as a populist decision taken at the height of the Kargil war, the government decided on the roll back two months ago. The cut came after much deliberation on part of the government which had been toying with the idea since December last year.

In fact, the government had also sent a letter to the Sainik Welfare Board in December asking for the latest position of casualties from Jammu and Kashmir at the end of the Kargil war. Deemed Operation Vijay, as casualties from Kargil stopped, so did the compensation.

However, considering political ramifications that could fall out of this decision, the State Government continues to pay Rs five lakh to the ``battle casualties'' by adding Rs three lakh to the compensation from the Chief Minister's fund.

``The State Government has been crying hoarse about its precarious financial position. So when the Kargil war ended, they decided to roll back the compensation,'' says an informed source.

However, the board has been disbursing Rs five lakh to the next of kin of the casualties. ``We are still paying kins Rs five lakh and we have cleared the list right up to December,'' said Col Bhagat Singh Deshmukh, heading the board.

Sources say that the board had firmly opposed the State Government's move on the roll back. Considering Maharashtra's long martial history and the State serving as a major recruiting centre, the decision would have proved to be extremely unpopular. A fact that was pointed out to the government by officials.

The State Government, say sources, immediately decided to continue the compensation with a little bit of `financial restructuring'. The money comes from the CM's fund at the discretion of the CM.

But Kargil saw only seven soldiers as casualties. Most of the soldiers belonged to the batch of Maharashtrian soldiers who had been inducted in the Garwhal Rifles in 1985 when the Indian Army had gone in for an integration programme in the aftermath of the disastrous Operation Bluestar.

Therefore, the name tag of the casualty became very important when it came to disbursing the Rs five lakh compensation. If they had the Operation Vijay tag they were treated as heroes who had martyred themselves.

Says a source, ``The other casualties from Operations Meghdoot (Siachen), Operation Rakshak (Counter insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir) or Operation Rhino (North East) were given a step motherly treatment. Kargil changed all that and the families were getting a better deal.''

However, the Rs five lakh compensation, albeit in a new avatar

continues at the discretion of the CM till a new plan can be worked out. A decision that thousands of sainik families dotting the rural landscape of Maharashtra will be watching keenly.