Three months after the bomb attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the Indian government hopes to make postings in its Embassy and consulates attractive by providing incentives, including a hefty insurance cover and a hardship allowance to all its employees in that country.

On July 7, Defence Attache Brigadier Ravi Datt Mehta, IFS officer V. Venkateswara Rao, and two officials of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Ajai Pathania and Roop Singh, were killed in the suicide car bombing near the Embassy gates.

Worried that the incident may deter officials from opting for postings to Afghanistan, the Indian government is now pushing ahead a series of measures. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) wants to provide a life insurance cover worth Rs 25-30 lakh to all employees working in the Indian Embassy at Kabul and at the four consulates in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad and Kandahar.

The proposal is set to be cleared soon, making it a first-of-its-kind measure by the MEA for its officials working in another country.

The other big plan is to set aside a “special hardship allowance” for MEA officials in Afghanistan. Sources said this allowance would be around 25 per cent of the “foreign allowance” already available to these officials. In addition, the government is also planning to provide a special monthly mobile phone allowance of $25.

The Ministry also proposes to allow direct “outstation posting” for diplomats and increase the number of “government-paid” visits to India.

Around 60 Indian officials are currently posted in Aghanistan. These benefits will also apply to ITBP personnel deputed at the Embassy and at the consulates.