Service personnel with battle casualty can stay in govt accommodation for a year now: Govt

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved a proposal extending the period during which a battle-injured soldier and his family can stay in government accommodation from three months to a year, a revised government press release issued on Wednesday said.

The revised release came after multiple retired military personnel on social media objected to a statement issued by the Defence Ministry on Tuesday, in which it had mistakenly stated that Singh had approved a proposal extending the period for which the family of a deceased soldier can stay in government accommodation from three months to one year.

The retired military personnel stated that such a facility was already available to the family of deceased soldiers.

At present, according to the rules, families or widows of deceased service personnel are entitled to government accommodation for a period of two years, which is further extendable by one year and six months, based on the merit of the case.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence stated that "some details were wrongly mentioned" in Tuesday's press release and the "error is deeply regretted".

Clarifying that on Tuesday it was talking about injured service personnel's housing stay, the Ministry of Defence said,"Service personnel who have sustained battle casualty in actions/operations and invalidated out from service on the same ground are permitted retention of government accommodation for a period of three months only as per existing provisions."