Chopper crash victims' kin to get Rs 10 lakh solatium, jobs

Raipur, July 18 (UNI) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today announced solatium of Rs 10 lakh and a job each to the families of the crew of state government helicopter 'Maina' that crashed in a forest of Balaghat district in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.

Making a suo moto statement in the Assembly today, he said one member from each of the affected families would be provided government jobs as per qualifications and eligibility. ''All the four crew will be cremated with full state honours,'' the Chief Minister added.

Captain A S Siddu, Pilot Vikram Savekar, Engineer Amitabh Soni and Senior Technician Manish Bodniya were on the ill-fated chopper that took off from Bhopal's Raja Bhoj Airport and went missing on Saturday afternoon.

Dr Singh said Bargatta Police received information last evening about helicopter wreckage and bodies lying in a forest near Lamra village on the interstate border. Police and search teams reached the spot about 12 km south of Deverbholi Police Outpost under Balaghat's Lanji Police Station.

Expressing shock over the fatalities, the Chief Minister said the pilots had on several occasions displayed exemplary courage in airlifting victims of naxal violence to safer places and shifting them to hospitals. The people of the state were with the bereaved families ''in this hour of crisis.'' Pointing out that the Madhya Pradesh government had sent its helicopter for search operations, he added that the neighbouring state's police undertook the search on ''war footing'' since the chopper went missing. The IAF pressed two of its helicopters into the mission while a remote-sensing agency had also joined the efforts.

UNI