Chandigarh, Apr 2: The mortal remains of 38 out of 39 Indians killed in Iraq were brought back to the nation on Monday. The flight carrying the bodies of the overseas Indian workers first halted at Amritsar, as 27 among the deceased are from Punjab.

The state government made arrangements to send the mortal remains to the respective villages. The remaining bodies would now be taken to Patna, followed by Kolkata where they would be handed over the kin of deceased in Bihar and West Bengal respectively.

While addressing the press along with Union MoS VK Singh, Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said the state government would provide an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of deceased.

"Ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh per family, job for one person per family will be given and current pension of Rs 20,000 to continue," Sidhu said.

Meanwhile, VK Singh, on being asked about compensation to the bereaved families, said the government would consider the demands raised by the kin.

"This is not a game of football. Both state and central govt are sensitive governments. EAM had asked the families for the details of their members who can be given jobs etc. We will review," the former Army chief said.

The 39 Indians, who were kidnapped by terror group ISIS in 2014, were found dead in a mass grave in Mosul. The bodies were identified after DNA test by Iraq's Martyrs' Foundation. However, the body of one migrant worker - Bihar's Raju Yadav - was not handed over to the Indian authorities as the body could be identified only upto 75 per cent.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 02, 2018 04:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).