Hyderabad: Gallantry award winners hailing from Andhra Pradesh, will hereafter not get land benefits in the state.
Escalating realty prices and non-availability of land in the state seems to have forced the government to decide against allotting any land in lieu of cash awards to decorated servicemen.
However, to compensate for this, the government has doubled the cash grants that the gallantry awardees are currently receiving.
Winners of gallantry awards, like the Sarvottam Yudha Seva Medal, Uttam Yudha Seva Medal etc., are also awarded cash grants by the state government for their bravery on the battlefield.
In addition, the service-men were also granted certain parcels of land, where they desired, in lieu of the cash awards by the government. But with the government’s decision to setup the new capital near Vijayawada, land prices have escalated sharply. Against this backdrop, all the gallantry award winners would only desire land parcels to be allotted to them in the vicinity of the new capital.
Hence, the government has decided to enhance cash awards and scrap the provision for the servicemen to seek lands in lieu of these cash awards.
In a government order, N.V. Ramana Reddy, special secretary, general administration department (political), Andhra Pradesh, said, “The government has decided to enhance the cash to the following awards as one time lumpsum grant and the awardees will not be entitled to any other benefits.
