Mumbai, May 15 (IANS): In a first, a deceased home guard's family was handed over a cheque of Rs 50 lakh as insurance amount, Maharashtra Director-General of Police (Home Guards), B.K. Upadhyay said here on Monday.

The home guard, Hariba Farkale of Aurangabad, met with an accident and died, recently.

Following his demise, HDFC Bank presented a cheque of Rs 50 lakh of his insurance amount to Upadhyay, who in turn handed it over to Farkale's family.

Upadhyay said on the occasion that the state's Home Guard are entitled to an insurance cover in case of accident or death in the line of duty.

"This initiative of Maharashtra has been adopted by other states also. It has come as a great relief to the Home Guard jawans as far as such accidents/deaths are concerned," Upadhyay.

In January 2023, a Home Guard from Raigad, Laxman V. Akhade - who lost his leg in an on-duty accident in September 2022 - was given an insurance amount of Rs 25 Lakhs from the HDFC Bank through which the Home Guard have tied up with salary accounts and entitlements of all insurance benefits.

With over 45,000 personnel including women and technicians, the Maharashtra Home Guards is among the biggest in the country and serves as an auxiliary to the police force for maintaining internal security.

It also serves as an emergency force for specialised tasks and has set up specialist arms like the border wings, marine units, etc, that work for the defence of the country.