Odishatv Bureau

Cuttack: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik today announced enhancement of ex-gratia for next of the kin of Odia CRPF jawans Prasanna K Sahoo and Manoj Kumar Behera, who lost their lives in the terror attack on a CRPF convoy on Jammu-Srinagar highway on February 14. They will be given ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh each instead of Rs 10 lakh, announced earlier by the CM.

Patnaik also said that the state government will bear the cost of education of their children and the schools where the martyred jawans studied will be named after them. He also said that the panchayats of the jawans will be declared as model GPs.

Earlier in the day, the villagers of Ratanpur under Niali of Cuttack district had expressed discontentment over the announcement of Rs 10 lakh compensation by the State Government to the kin of Odia CRPF jawan Manoj Behera.

The villagers of Ratanpur and Manoj Behera's relatives stated that they are unhappy with the amount of compensation announced for his kin, despite the fact that he was the lone bread earner in his house.

Claiming that other state governments including Maharashtra and UP have announced higher compensation for the martyrs, the Ratanpur villagers also demanded Rs 50 lakh assistance along with a job to one member of his family.

"The compensation by the Odisha government is much less than what has been announced by other State governments. The UP government has announced Rs 25 lakh, Maharashtra government Rs 50 lakh and Assam government Rs 20 lakh for their martyrs. As Manoj was the sole bread earner of his family, the Odisha government should take the responsibility of his family and provide employment to one of his family members apart from increasing the compensation," a relative of Manoj Behera said.

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