[ Nellie N Manpoong ]
ITANAGAR, Sep 4: Director General of Police (DGP) Sandeep Goel on Monday affirmed that Indian Reserve Battalion (IRBn) jawan, Nada Umbing’s family would receive the ex-gratia amount at par with the Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, who perished in the rescue operations on July 4 last.
In recognition of Umbing’s services and sacrifice, the DGP said that the Home Department is working on the modalities so that late Umbing’s family receives the compensation amount at the earliest.
On questions raised from various quarters about the meagre amount of Rs 50, 000 provided to the family of late Umbing as ex-gratia, the DGP clarified that it was provided as immediate relief to the family and the actual ex-gratia amount is yet to be awarded.
While the news may bring some respite to the wife of late Umbing and his young children, it is for the Home Department to speed up the process as it did in the case of the IAF personnel.
In early August, the Arunachal Pradesh Government handed over cheques worth Rs 50 lakh each to Air Commodore K V R Raju, Air Officer Commanding of the IAF base in Tezpur, to be later handed over to the families of three IAF personnel killed in the July 4 chopper crash.
On July 4, 2017, an IAF helicopter with three IAF personnel and IRBn jawan Nada Umbing were on a rescue mission to evacuate people stranded in Sagalee and Dambuk following massive floods and landslides.
According to official reports, the helicopter had taken off from Pilputu helipad near Sagalee, which is around 30 km from Itanagar. It lost contact with the ground staff within minutes of take-off at around 3:48 PM.
The bodies of the IAF personnel and Umbing were found three days later in SopoYuha near Hostallam after a massive search operation was conducted by the police, with the support of locals.
