A 50 per cent increase in the monthly allowance paid by the UT Administration to Armed Forces gallantry and distinguished service award winners from Chandigarh has been recommended by the Zila Sainik Board (ZRB).The allowance is applicable to those personnel who were conferred gallantry awards before 2009. Subsequently, gallantry awards recipients are entitled to a one-time lump sum payment.At present, a Param Vir Chakra recipient is entitled Rs 41,580 per month, while Maha Vir Chakra and Vir Chakra recipients are entitled Rs 31,600 per month and Rs 18,295 per month, respectively. The monthly allowances were last revised in 2013, sources said.Recipients of the Ashok Chakra, Kitri Chakra and Shaurya Chakra, the peacetime equivalents of the aforementioned awards, are also entitled monthly payments which are a little lower. Similarly, other awards for distinguished service are also granted monthly payments. These are also being increased.For post-2009 recipients, a Param Vir Chakra is entitled a lump sum payment of Rs 2 crore, Maha Vir Chakra Rs 1 crore and Vir Chakra Rs 50 lakh. These rates were last revised in 2022 and brought at par with the policies of Punjab and Haryana.At present, there are about a 100 pre-2009 beneficiaries in Chandigarh, amongst whom the Kirti Chakra is the highest. Though recipients of higher awards like the Maha Vir Chakra have resided in Chandigarh, some of them were granted benefits by the Punjab government owing to their domicile. State governments have their own policies on giving benefits to gallantry awardees from their respective state as a mark of respect.At a meeting of the, held under the chairmanship of Nishant Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner-cum-President ZRB, it was also proposed to hike the one-time payment from the Sena Medal from Rs 14 lakh to Rs 21 lakh, bringing it at par with Haryana.Further, grant of one-time financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh out of the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund to next of kin of defence personnel who die in harness and are declared as “Physical Casualty (Fatal)”, and increasing the Rashtriya Indian Military College Scholarship from Rs 33.000 to Rs 50,000 per cadet per annum has also been mooted.Briefing the meeting, Col HS Ghuman (retd), Secretary ZRB, said that the UT Administration has approved 20 percent horizontal reservation for ex-Agniveers of Chandigarh domicile in direct recruitment posts of posts of constable in the Chandigarh Police, jail warden in the Prison Department and forest guard in the Forest and Wildlife Department.He added that a sum of Rs 2.07 crore has been sanctioned for the repair and renovation of the Sainik Rest House, Chandigarh and the improved facilities, work on which has started, will benefit veterans and their families visiting Chandigarh from across the country.