The family of a jawan, killed in anti-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir over a year ago, is unhappy with the Orissa government's reluctance to honour a promise to compensate the family.

Biswajit Mishra, a native of Badamanga village under Aul police station, was a member of the 23 Rashtriya Rifles. He fell to militants' bullets on March 8, 2002, during an operation in the Kashmir valley.

The deceased jawan's family members said the state government had risen to the occasion and announced a grant of Rs 200,000 for his family, besides widow pension amounting to Rs 1,275 per month.

However, things soured later.

"The state government promised the moon...., but refused to release the grant," Harekrushna Mishra, the jawan's father alleged.

Mishra alleged that the state government had backtracked from its commitment saying that the case was not eligible for compensation.

The home department of the government in a letter dated June 17, 2003 said the jawan's sacrifice did not merit consideration for the earlier announced package as he was not killed on the battlefield.

The martyr's father claimed that the commandant of 23 Rashtriya Rifles had already informed the state government that Biswajit was killed during Operation Rakshak and termed his death as a battle casualty.

Describing the state government's move as 'sheer dishonour' to a martyr, Mishra said it was 'a matter of shame' not only for the state but also the entire country.

After efforts to communicate with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's office failed to elicit any positive result, the martyr's father is now contemplating a sit-in protest before the chief minister's official residence in capital Bhubaneswar.

More reports from Orissa