Maharashtra Government Announces Rs 50 Lakh for Families of 6 Pahalgam Terror Attack Victims

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced a sum of Rs 50 lakh each as monetary assistance to the families of those who lost their lives in the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The government will also help the education of their children and provide a government job to a family member.

Six tourists from Maharashtra who were on holiday with their families lost their lives in the attack. The victims include Santosh Jagdale and Kaustubh Ganavate (both from Pune); three maternal cousins — Hemant Joshi, Sanjay Lele, and Atul Mone (all from Dombivli); and Dilip Disle from Panvel. Immediately after the incident, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced Rs five lakh as an interim compensation to the families of the deceased tourists.

“Today our cabinet decided to provide financial help of Rs 50 lakh each to the families who lost their members in the Pahalgam attack. We have also decided to resolve the issue of education of their children and provide government jobs to a family member,” Mr. Fadnavis said after the meeting.

The state government has already offered a job to Asavari Jagdale, whose father Santosh was killed by terrorists in the Pahalgam attack. She thanked Mr. Fadnavis for the job offer. “I have heard that financial assistance to all affected families and a government job for me has been announced. I thank CM Devendra Fadnavis ji for it...We have not yet overcome what we have gone through. It was an incident which is very difficult to forget. We are still in shock,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Eknath Shine-led Shiv Sena slammed the Congress for demanding a special Parliament session to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack. Asking the Congress to first set its own house in order before making such a demand, Lok Sabha MP Shrikant Shinde said, “It should urgently call an All India Congress Committee (AICC) session to clarify its stand on the deeply offensive statements made by its senior leaders, including some questioning the accounts of the victims and echoing the narrative of Pakistan.”