Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced an enhancement of ex-gratia for the next of the kin of the two Odia CRPF jawans, Prasanna Sahu and Manoj Kumar Behera who were killed along with 42 others in the Pulwama terrorist attack.
They will be given an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh each instead of Rs 10 lakh as announced earlier. In addition, the state govt will bear the education cost of their children. Their villages will be made model panchayats and their schools will be named after the Saheeds, informed a release.
The jawans were given a guard of honour at Biju Patnaik International Airport upon their arrival by a special aircraft on Saturday. The bodies were wrapped in tricolor and arrangements were made for people to pay their respects. Dharmendra Pradha, Jual Oram, Pratap Jena, Niranjan Patnaik and other political leaders were also present there.
Prasanna Sahu hailed from Parisikhar village under Naugan block of Jagatsinghpur district and was posted as a Constable at 61 Battalions of CRPF. Manoj Kumar Behera who had joined the CRPF in 2006, had spoken to his wife over telephone on Thursday morning, hours before the attack.
