Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has urged the state government to provide an ex gratia of Rs 1 crore to the family members of late Lance Naik Sai Teja who died in the recent IAF chopper crash in Coonoor.
Naidu, on Friday, said Sai Teja rose to join the personal security staff of the country’s Chief of Defence Staff within nine years of joining the Indian Army. He belonged to Erraballi panchayat in Kurabalakota mandal in Chittoor district. Sai Teja joined the army at the age of 20 and has lost his age at the age of 29.
The TDP chief wrote a letter to AP chief secretary Sameer Sharma, urging him to provide a job to one of Sai Teja’s family members. Naidu said that Sai Teja was born in a tribal family and made a huge sacrifice in the service of the country. “With determination, hard work and commitment, he could get a place in the personal security cover for the chief of the tri-services,” he added. He stressed the need for the state government to extend all possible help to the bereaved family.
Along with General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat, seven Indian Army officers and jawans and four Indian Air Force officers lost their lives in the military chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.