Visakhapatnam: A year after an Indian Air Force AN-32 aircraft disappeared while flying over the Bay of Bengal, the defence ministry has announced the grant of Rs 35 lakh ex gratia along with extraordinary pension to the families of the eight employees of Naval Armament Depot in the port city who were on the flight.
The aircraft is believed to have crashed into the Bay of Bengal on July 22, 2016, a few minutes after it took off on a routine flight to Port Blair.
Vizag MP K. Haribabu had written a letter to the then defence minister Arun Jaitley requesting him to grant special benefits to the heirs of deceased defence civilian employees who died in the mishap.
In reply to Mr Haribabu’s letter, Mr Jaitley mentioned that Rs 35 lakh ex gratia along with the extraordinary pension to the heirs of the deceased, as per the provisions of CCS Rules had been approved by the Competent Authority.
Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu had cleared the payment of Rs 5 lakh as ex gratia from the state government account to the families of each of the employees of the NAD on April 8 this year.
The family members had asked Mr Naidu to prevail upon the defence ministry to get employment for them.
Expressing happiness with the decision of the defence ministry, NAD Civil Employees Union led by its president K.A. Nageswara Rao on Thursday met Vice Admiral H.C.S. Bisht, Flag Officer, Comman-ding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command (ENC) for his efforts to secure justice for the families of the deceased NAD employees.
The aircraft was carrying a complement of 23 defence personnel and six crew members when it crashed about 280 km off Chennai. India mounted its biggest search and rescue operation but to no avail.
