Govt jobs for kin of Karnataka soldiers who die while on duty

Days after the country observed Kargil Vijay Diwas, the state government is making a move to provide government jobs to family members of soldiers hailing from Karnataka who die or suffer permanent incapacitation during combat.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds the Home portfolio, has directed the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) to amend rules governing appointments on compassionate grounds to benefit soldiers from the state. The move, according to insiders, is in line with the pro-Kannada stance Siddaramaiah has taken of late.

The spouses or children aged above 18 years of a soldier of the Indian Army or a paramilitary force who dies or is rendered permanently incapacitated in a war, a war-like conflict, an internal security situation or a border skirmish will be eligible for a government job on compassionate grounds.

Death of on-duty soldiers due to a natural calamity such as an avalanche will also qualify. At present, family members of only government servants who die while in service are eligible for a government job on compassionate grounds.

In the recent past, several soldiers from Karnataka - Gunner Sahadev Maruti More (Vijayapura), Lance Naik Hanamanthappa (Dharwad), Sepoy P N Mahesh (Mysuru), Subedar T T Nagesh (Hassan), Lt Col E Niranjan Kumar (Bengaluru), Sepoy Sandeep Kumar Shetti (Hassan) among others - died while on duty.

Last year, the state government announced relief of Rs 25 lakh to the families of martyred soldiers.

“The trigger for the decision was that many requests from family members of martyred soldiers seeking a government job were turned down because army personnel are Central government employees. Now, the chief minister has asked the DPAR to come up with rules so that army soldiers can be considered on a par with state government employees,” a senior official from the Chief Minister’s Office told DH. “The rules will be framed in about two weeks.”

Scores of people from Karnataka join the armed forces every year and it is estimated that the state is home to about 70,000 ex-servicemen. “This is a landmark decision,” said Col Rajbir Singh from the Corps of Military Police (CMP) Centre on Hosur Road. “Karnataka’s representation in the armed forces is comparatively low, although the state has given some of the best soldiers. There can’t be a better news for sainiks from Karnataka, whose widows and children can secure their future with this decision.”