State govt to set up horticultural centre at Jind

A horticultural centre will be set up in Jind in the memory of martyr Captain Pawan Kumar, a Shaurya Chakra awardee, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced on Friday.

Capt Pawan Kumar was one of three martyrs who led an antimilitant operation in Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir last year.

Khattar was presiding over a civil military liaison conference at the Panchkula-based Western Command where Lt Gen Surender Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Western Command, was also present.

The CM said the state government was always on the forefront of ensuring welfare of serving soldiers, ex-servicemen and their dependents. A separate Sainik and Ardh Sainik welfare department has been created with an independent administrative secretary, he added.

The CM said that though Haryana is a small state having only 2% of the country’s population, its contribution to the armed forces of is 10%.

The ex-gratia grant to the martyrs was increased from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and 115 kin of the soldiers killed in action were given employment in different departments on compassionate grounds, he said.

Lt Gen Surender Singh thanked the state government for allotting five-acre land in Bahadurgarh for Jai Jawan Awas Yojna and said the work on the project will start soon.