Sept 13, Colombo: The Ministry of Defense (MOD) has already made necessary arrangements for stipends be paid to disabled tri forces personnel who retire from service on medical grounds due to disabilities caused during the terrorist war till the age of 55 years and thereafter for the lifetime of the serviceman and his widow.

But according to the existing procedures, if a disabled service personnel dies before the age of 55 years, a medical board must confirm, in order to entitle the widow to the above stipend, that the cause of death is a direct result of the disability of that service personnel.

If a disabled service personnel dies from any other cause where the medical board cannot confirm that the death was caused as a direct result of the disability, the widow can only be entitled to the Widow’s and Orphan’s Pension. Due to this reason, a significant number of requests have been made to this Ministry from affected widows requesting that the allowance and salary continued to be paid to them.

In response to those requests, necessary measures have already been taken to obtain Cabinet approval for providing relief to them.

Retired disabled service personnel and their family members should not have any undue fear in this regard, as it has been observed that certain sections are trying to create confusion among disabled service personnel and their family members in this regard, the Ministry of Defense said.

It is further emphasized that the Ministry of Defense will take all measures to ensure the welfare of retired tri forces personnel and their families in the future as well.