AC, sofa comfort only momentary for soldier’s family
new delhi — Prem Sagar was one of the soldiers killed in a border skirmish with Pakistan last fortnight. His body was also found mutilated. Last Friday, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, paid a visit to the mourning family in the Deoria district of the state. And for a brief while, Prem Sagar’s parents and relatives had a vision of how the rich and powerful lived in the country their son died for.
“Around 1pm on Friday, administrative officials came and installed an AC in our drawing room. Then they placed a sofa and spread out a carpet on the floor.
“The chief minister was in our house for about half-an-hour, and soon after he left, they began dismantling the AC and took away everything else,” said Sagar’s son Ishwar Chandra, “and it was hot again.” The mercury last week touched 44C. Sagar, 45, was one of the two soldiers killed, and their bodies mutilated, in an attack by Pakistan’s Border Action Team on May 1. On Friday, when the AC and the sofa and the carpet appeared like magic at Sagar’s house, the family thought the government was honouring Sagar, and that the accessories were
If a VIP guest comes for a visit, we have to do the necessary things to make him comfortable. Public Works Dept. officials
going to be permanent fixtures.
But it was later that they realised their mistake. Adityanath’s visit was to hand over Sagar’s family a cheque of Rs400,000 and a certificate of a fixed deposit of Rs200,000. That was the value that the state government had arrived at on the soldier’s life, despite the loud patriotic noises which were made following the death of the two soldiers.
Authorities later said the Public Works Department (PWD) had brought in the AC and other stuff. The arrangements for the chief minister’s visit had been done by the PWD, officials said, according to protocol: “If a VIP guest comes for a visit, we have to do the necessary things to make him comfortable. We have to take care of the facilities that he is accustomed to.”
A Congress member of the UP legislative assembly said, there is no such protocol. “If a minister goes to a tribal village, who carries a table fan and a generator with him? It just shows how craven the bureaucratic culture in Uttar Pradesh is.”
According to a government statement released after Adityanath’s visit, the chief minister promised to build a memorial for the martyr in the village.
He also promised to send a recommendation to the Centre on the family’s demand for allotment of a cooking gas agency.
Whatever he promised does not include an AC, sofa or carpet. Sagar’s family is poor.
A statue in memory of their son may gratify them, but a little more money by way of compensation might help them live a little better.