BSF martyr’s kin struggle to get his memorial set up in Rohtak

ROHTAK: More than eight months after he was killed in mortar shelling by Pakistan forces during border turmoil post surgical strikes, the family of BSF head constable Rai Singh Indora is waiting for the establishment of his memorial at the place he was cremated.

Rai Singh, of Kheri Sampla village in Rohtak, was killed in Rajouri sector in November, 2016.

The announcement for his memorial at his cremation site was made by state transport minister Krishan Lal Panwar during his last rites. The municipal committee in Sampla, owner of the land, had passed a resolution to build the memorial.

The administration has now put off the plan saying NHAI has refused to grant them permission to construct the memorial along the national highway.

The family, however, raised their resentment. “Why did they announce it when they could not have build it? From many months, we had been cleaning the cremation site where stray animals were defecating,” said Ramesh Kumar, a retired BSF jawan and elder brother of Rai Singh.

The family earlier had to struggle with disparity in ex-gratia amount and then delay in receiving it from the government after the death of their sole bread winner. The 50 lakh compensation was given only after media highlighted how Rai Singh’s widow and their three school going children were living on loans. The martyr’s pension was also recently started, but the family now complains government’s neglect towards his memorial.