Karnataka announces Rs 25 lakh aid for slain CRPF trooper’s kin
Bengaluru: The mortal remains of Karnataka’s slain CRPF trooper H. Guru arrived here on Saturday from New Delhi in a special IAF aircraft for the last rites with state honours at his village in Mandya district.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy announced a financial aid of Rs 25 lakh for the family of the slain trooper.
The tri-coloured cortege with Guru’s body was lowered from the IAF’s AN-32 transport aircraft at the state-run HAL airport in the city’s eastern suburb and driven in a flower-bedecked military truck to Gudigere village in Mandya, about 100 km from here.
Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Kumaraswamy and state Home Minister M.B. Patil laid wreaths on the cortege before it was placed in the vehicle for its last journey under escort.
Constable (General Duty) Guru, 33, was among the 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers who died on Thursday near Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district in a terror attack on a bus in which they were travelling in a convoy to Srinagar from Jammu.
“Kumaraswamy will attend the state funeral being accorded to Guru along with other dignitaries, including officials of the CRPF and the services,” said the Chief Minister’s Office in a statement here.
Guru’s family members, including wife Kalavathi, father Honnaiah, mother Chikka Thayamma, younger brothers Madhu and Anand were inconsolable over his sudden death.
According to his relatives, Guru was at home last week on leave and left for Jammu and Kashmir on February 11.
Guru joined the CRPF in 2011 after serving in Jharkhand as part of the 94th Battalion.
The Chief Minister has assured the bereaved family of providing a government job to Guru’s widow Kalavathi and compensation for his supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced a financial help of Rs 25 lakh.
“The state government will give an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh to the family of the trooper, who laid down his life for the country,” Kumaraswamy told.
“The state will do everything to take care of Guru’s family,” he asserted.
Guru belonged to the 82nd Battalion of the CRPF and was posted in Srinagar.