Chandigarh, March 22
Recognising the sacrifices made by Haryana’s defence personnel, the Haryana government has decided to honour war widows, who will be awarded an assistance of Rs 1,000 per month. This honour will also be extended to widows of martyrs of “war-like” situations.
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said this scheme was for war widows of the Army, Navy and Air Force personnel killed during war. No other family member would be entitled to the award money.
As many as 1,308 widows would be given this honour in addition to the pension they are getting from the Ministry of Defence. Probably, Haryana is the only state to award such honour to the war widows. Elsewhere, financial assistance is only provided to widows of personnel who don’t have any other source of income. This assistance is be disbursed through Zila Sainik Boards across the state.
The secretary of the Rajya Sainik Board, Brig KS Budhwar, said the government had been considering the scheme for some time now. “ll women whose husbands were killed during any declared war or during a war-like situation will be entitled to this assistance. We have given instructions to Zila Sainik Boards to send us forms for applying for this assistance. These will be sent back to us for clearance after which sanction for assistance will be given,” he said. The scheme will be applicable from August 1, 2009.
During the recent Vidhan Sabha session, the government had doubled the war jagir too. It hiked the amount from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per year which was passed by the assembly.
The government has also hiked assistance to WW- II veterans and their widows from Rs 1,000 to 1,500 per month and that of ex-servicemen aged over 60.
