The Bihar government on Tuesday increased the compensation for kin of soldiers killed in the line of duty to Rs 11 lakh from Rs 5 lakh, PTI reported. Cabinet Secretariat Department Principal Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra said the amount will be given to the relatives of jawaans "martyred in war or in a war-like situation".

The state's administration will also bear the costs of the last rites and cremation of such servicemen, Mehrotra added. The state Cabinet made the decision nearly two months after announcing an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the relatives of three soldiers from Bihar who were killed during a militant attack in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

So far, the government has paid the revised compensation to the families of one Border Security Force officer and one Army soldier who were killed in incidents of cross-border firing following the Indian Army's surgical strikes along the Line of Control with Pakistan on September 29.