COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has decided to grant an amount of 750 rupees to the parents of all those soldiers and policemen who fought the Tamil Tigers between 1981 and 2009.

According to official estimates, more than 600,000 parents would benefit from the scheme. The cost is estimated to be around 450 million rupees per month (3.5 million dollars).

Lakshman Hulugalle, who heads the Media Centre for National Security, said the decision would cover parents of the dead as well as the living soldiers, the serving and the retired ones, the able bodied and the disabled.