Pulwama attack: Modi govt fails to fulfill promise, only 12 families out of 40 slain CRPF jawans got job offer

The Narendra Modi government which promised to take care of those martyred in the Pulwama terror attack has once again failed to deliver its promises, revealed an RTI reply.

Immediately after the attack, starting from Prime Minister Modi to the then Home Minister Rajnath to the then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman all spoke of “taking revenge from Pakistan” but a scrutiny of the news items published in next two days following the attack, shows that their outcry, surprisingly, lacked reference to the martyred CRPF personnel.

Thus, it does not come as a shock to know that the Modi government which left no stone unturned to encash nationalistic fervour post-Pulwama terror attack for the electoral gains, has failed to not only provide adequate financial help to the families of the martyrs but jobs also.

According to an RTI reply sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs, only 12 families of martyred CRPF personnel have been offered job, that too by state governments and not by the central government.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in recent times, 40 CRPF personnel have lost their lives.

Out of those who have been offered job, nine families reside in Uttar Pradesh while one family live in Kerala and the other one is a resident of Asam. It is important to reiterate that UP lost the highest number of CRPF soldiers in the attack.

The RTI activist who wished to remain anonymous said that he sought information about the address and the contact number of the beneficiaries to verify the claims made by the government but citing “security concerns” the government has refused to share the information.

Within 36 hours of the terror attack, Veer Bharat Corps fund which was launched in 2018 with purpose “to provide adequate financial help to the families of the martyred CRPF personnel” had received the highest donation of over ₹ 7 crore but as per the RTI, only ₹ 5 crores 68 lakhs were distributed among families of the martyrs which means each family had received less than ₹ 15 lakhs.

According to the reply, Veer Bharat Corps fund has received ₹258 crores as donation till August 2019. The Madhya Pradesh police had contributed the highest amount - ₹ 7.5 crores to the fund.

Notably, a year before, launching the campaign with Bollywood actor, Akshay Kumar, then Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that the purpose of the fund campaign is to provide at least financial aid of ₹ 1 crore to the families of the martyrs. But as the reply shows the government had offered only a pie of the proposed amount.