Amid row on relief, Ludhiana Agniveer’s kin admit they’ve got Rs 98 lakh

Mahesh Sharma & Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana/New Delhi, July 4

The family of deceased “Agniveer” Ajay Kumar Singh, which yesterday created a political storm by claiming that it was yet to receive any compensation from the Union Government, today did a part course correction and admitted to having received the insurance amount.

In New Delhi, sources in the Army said Ajay Kumar died in a mine blast at Rajouri in J&K on January 18. A payment of Rs 50 lakh was made to the family on February 13. It was the insurance money paid by the bank where Ajay Kumar had a “salary account”. Another sum of Rs 48 lakh was paid on June 10, which was the insurance payout of a policy funded by the government.

Sources said the family was yet to be paid around Rs 67 lakh, including Rs 44 lakh ex gratia amount, Rs 13 lakh balance salary for the four-year tenure as Agniveer, Rs 2.30 lakh Seva Nidhi package with government contribution and Rs 8 lakh from the Army Welfare fund.

Sources said the payment would be made after the “adjudication to establish attributability of death” of the soldier being in line of duty. The Army has a Court of Inquiry and its report was expected soon. A police verification was also pending at Rajouri in J&K. Compensation disbursement normally took about 6-8 months, sources added.

Talking to The Tribune, Ajay Kumar’s father Charanjit Singh said, “The family received Rs 50 lakh as insurance amount shortly after the incident and another Rs 48 lakh (insurance) from the Army on June 10.”

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had used a video of Charanjit Singh to say that “no compensation had been paid to the soldier’s family”.

After his statement, the Army on Wednesday took to social media to reject the claims that no compensation had been paid to the next of kin of Agniveer Ajay Kumar, saying Rs 98.39 lakh had been paid to them.

In all, around Rs 1.65 crore would be paid to the family, it said in the “clarification”.

“Ex gratia and other benefits amounting to around Rs 67 lakh, as applicable according to the provisions of the Agniveer Scheme, will be paid on final account settlement shortly,” it added.

The Office of Defence Minister posted on X, “Indian Army is committed to the welfare of Agniveers!” and shared the Army’s post.

Rahul had visited the family on May 29. The village falls in Ludhiana district’s Payal Assembly constituency.

Charanjit’s family lives in a two-room house and the youngest of his six daughters, Anjali, had to drop out from Government College, Karamsar, after BA second semester as the family could not pay her fees. They have now purchased an adjoining plot for constructing a house.

Congress seeks White Paper

Accusing Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of telling “half-truth” in Parliament, the Congress on Thursday asked the government to release a White Paper on compensation paid to the families of slain Agniveers. Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Col Rohit Chaudhary (retd), chairman, ex-servicemen department of the Congress, produced a list of 11 slain Agniveers and said their families had not got the Rs 1 crore compensation promised by the Union Government.