Rs 25 lakh, jobs for family members of Pathankot martyrs: Parkash Singh Badal

Gurdaspur: Paying rich tributes to the martyrs of Pathakot terror attack, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday announced financial assistance of Rs. 25 lakh and government job each for next of kin of two martyrs from the state - Honorary Captain Fateh Singh and Havildar Kulwant Singh.

The Chief Minister said that it was a modest effort of the state government to pay tribute to these bravehearts who made supreme sacrifice while protecting the unity and integrity of the nation.

"The state government will leave no stone unturned to bail these families out of the crisis in this hour of grief," Mr Badal told reporters during his Sangat Darshan programme in Qadian assembly constituency.

The Chief Minister said the state government was ready to help the family of any security personnel who lost his life during the attack, irrespective of the fact that whether he hails from Punjab or not. He said he had asked state government officials to contact such families for extending a helping hand in this hour of crisis.

"It is an onerous duty on our part to bail out these distressed families in this difficult time as they have sacrificed their lives to safeguard the nation's integrity and sovereignty," he said.

The Chief Minister appealed to the Centre, "to plug all the loopholes at the border" to prevent any sort of intrusion of terrorists. He said it was high time that security is beefed up along the border to check cross-border terrorism.

"We will again take up this issue with the Union government to ensure that terror attacks like Dinanagar (in July last year) and Pathankot should not reoccur," he said.