Despite posthumous gallantry awards, army widows in bad shape
Saroj Devi is proud of the fact that her husband laid down his life fighting the insurgents in Kashmir. But she is deeply hurt that the state has not given him his due recognition.
Today, she and three-year-old son find themselves living a hand-to-mouth existence. Except for the pension of her dead husband, she has no other sources of income.
Her husband, Sepoy Jagdish Parsad of the Sixth Jat regiment, died
in the Kashmir valley while fighting the insurgents three years
ago. He was posthumously decorated with the Sena medal for his gallantry on Saturday. Saroj Devi, along with 24 other widows of army personnel, received her husband's medal at the investiture ceremony of the Western Command in Amritsar.
These army personnel had laid down lives while fighting foreign-trained terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking about her plight, Saroj Devi said she had approached
the Alwar district authorities for a piece of agricultural land and a bus route permit. Till date, she has received neither. The officials, according to her, just refuse to listen.
Sushila Kumari, on the other hand, is worried about her
children's education. Coming from a remote village where there
are no educational facilities, this army widow from Rajasthan has now approached the Western Command authorities for a solution to her problem.
Rekha Devi, who was widowed soon after marriage, has not received a penny of the amount, legally due to her as per the state rules, from the Uttar Pradesh government. Her husband died in action in 1994, while warding off a militant attack in Srinagar.
Paramjit Kaur from the Ropar district of Punjab and Daljit Kaur from
the Kurukshetra district of Haryana say they are both being harassed by their
respective in-laws. While Paramjit's property was snatched away by her in-laws after her husband's death, Daljit and her children were thrown out of her in-laws's house. No one from their respective villages has stepped forward to help them.
Sukhbir Kaur, a young widow from Amritsar, is one of the few who paints a brighter picture. She is happy that the members of her
husband's unit, the 16 Sikh Light Infantry, have not forgotten her. The unit commander helped her put her two sons in an army boarding school.
Except for an isolated case, none of these widows have received
the monetary grants which are due to them from their state
governments. The Punjab government has not even extended them the Rs 100 per month free bus travel facility on state transport buses.
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