Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, several ministers and senior officials joined hundreds of people in paying homage to two CRPF jawans from Odisha, who lost their lives in Pulwama terror attack, after their bodies were flown in here Saturday by a special Air Force aircraft.
The government also announced an enhanced ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh for the families of slain soldiers Prasanna Kumar Sahoo of Shikhar in Jagatsinghpur district and Manoj Kumar Behera of Ratanpur in Cuttack.
Patnaik paid floral tributes after the bodies arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport, where scores of people had converged to offer their last respects.
Union Ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan, Odisha Finance Minister SB Behera, Culture Minister Ashok Panda, Health Minister Pratap Jena, MP Prasanna Patsani, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik, BJP state president Basant Panda, senior CRPF, police and government officials were among those who paid homage at the airport.
The state government also said it will bear the education cost of the children of the slain jawans.
The schools where Behera and Sahu studied would be named after them. Their ‘gram panchayats’ will be declared Model Gram Panchayats, said a statement issued by the CMO.
The martyrs were given the “guard of honour” here Saturday.
Leaders cutting across party lines and senior police officials paid their tributes to the.
The last rites of martyrs were being performed with full state honour at their native places.
Following the Chief Minister’s direction, schools across the state observed a two-minute silence to offer their tributes. Thousands of school and college students along with their teachers and staff Saturday observed two-minute silence as a mark of respect to the martyred jawans.
Earlier, thousands of people assembled at the airport here to receive the mortal remains of the martyrs. The CRPF) also made arrangements to facilitate the people who came to pay homage.
Meanwhile, Odisha IPS Association has decided to contribute a day’s salary to the welfare fund of DG, CRPF, for the bereaved families. In a resolution, the Association said, “While expressing deep sorrow and anguish, the association stands firmly in solidarity with the CRPF and hope resolute action would be taken against the perpetrators of the dastardly act.”