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New Delhi, Oct. 7: Parents of deceased paramilitary jawans will from now on get a part of the risk-fund benefits that only the widowed spouses were so far entitled to.
The home ministry recently introduced appropriate provisions in compensation rules to include parents as beneficiaries, addressing a long-standing demand.
“It was a long-standing demand from parents of paramilitary force jawans and they had made several representations for including them as beneficiaries of benefits extended to family members of deceased personnel,” a ministry official said.
The decision was taken last month at a meeting chaired by minister of state for home Jitendra Singh and attended by the chiefs of all the six paramilitary forces — the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force and Assam Rifles.
According to one of the new provisions, parents of jawans who die in action will now get Rs 4 lakh of the sanctioned risk benefit of Rs 15 lakh. “The remaining amount will go to the spouse of the deceased personnel,” the official said.
Earlier, spouses were entitled to the whole amount.
If a jawan dies in an accident or because of cerebral malaria, his parents would get Rs 4 lakh of the Rs 12 lakh risk benefit. The spouse would get Rs 8 lakh.
The parents of a jawan will get Rs 2.5 lakh of the sanctioned benefit of Rs 8 lakh in case of natural death or death while on duty, suicide and death from other possible causes.
The ministry is also considering a proposal from the CRPF that personnel of the force killed in action be accorded the status of a “martyr” as in the armed forces.
“If it is approved, the (jawan’s) home state would be obliged to compensate the families of the deceased,” a CRPF official said.
Families of martyrs get added benefits like land, apart from monetary compensation.
In all, 327 central armed police force (CAPF) personnel were killed in the last three years.
The move to include parents as beneficiaries followed several representations to the ministry and the CAPFs the dead personnel were part of. “In many cases, the wives of the deceased jawans remarried after claiming all the benefits and left the parents in the lurch. The elderly parents faced serious problems and had nowhere to go,” a ministry official said.
The ministry has also asked all the CAPF heads to ensure that welfare committees in each state keep in touch with the families of deceased personnel.
“It is part of the welfare measures taken by the ministry. Senior officers have been asked to keep in touch with the families of the deceased and visit them regularly. The ministry has also directed that grievance redress cells help serving/retired personnel and the next of kin of deceased personnel in every possible way,” the official said.
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