New Delhi, Apr 3: PM Narendra Modi today announced the ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each to families of 39 Indians who died in Iraq's Mosul.

The move came after Congress MPs from Punjab staged a protest demanding compensation to the workers killed in Badush village of Iraq by Islamic States terrorists. The MPs raised slogans at Parliament to demand financial relief to the bereaved kins of killed people.

Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh had brought the mortal remains of 38 Indians from the war-torn nation yesterday. He visited Amritsar to hand over bodies of 27 workers from Punjab. He courted a controversy as he snapped back at a journalist for asking a question on compensation to the relatives of deceased. He had said it was not like distributing biscuits.

The Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the comment was like rubbing salt to the wound and he took his official Twitor handle and said, “39 Indians (sic) were killed in Mosul, Iraq as Modi Govt continuously misled the families & Nation. Min., V.K.Singh is now rubbing ‘salt on the wounds’ by rubbishing the demands for compensation for the families as akin to demand for ‘biscuits’. Heartless, Shameful & Reprehensible,” he tweeted.

EAM Sushma Swaraj last month informed Parliament that the 39 Indian abducted by ISIS from Mosul in 2014 had been killed. She said their mortal remains were detected through deep incursion radar, and DNA tests confirmed their deaths. The body of the 39th worker from Bihar could not be recognized and only 70% DNA was matched.