Orissa to give land to families of cops killed in action

In an effort to lift the morale of its forces fighting the Maoists,the Orissa government has decided to give 10 decimals of homestead land to the families of each of the state police personnel who die fighting the rebels.

The Revenue department recently issued a circular under which personnel of the state police would now be eligible for 10 decimal (4400 sq ft) of homestead land in any place of Orissa except Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar was excluded as the government has very little land left to distribute,officials said.

The scheme would also cover policemen who died fighting the rebels in the past few years, said Banani Mohanty,a senior Revenue officer. It was not immediately clear from which year.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had promised homestead land to the families of the 17 personnel who were killed in a landmine blast in Malkangiri in 2008. However,the promise was forgotten. Recently,the Revenue department fast-tracked the scheme after a spate of Maoist attacks.