7 years ago, brave Commanding Officer of 9 Maratha Light Infantry Colonel Vasant Venugopal silenced eight terrorists and in the fight made the supreme sacrifice for the nation. But today, his valour has been shamed. The complete apathy forced the martyr's widow to run from pillar to post to get her due. On July 31, 2007 troops of 9 Maratha Light Infantry surrounded terrorists in a forest in Uri sector. Despite being wounded, Colonel Vasanth and his men engaged the terrorists in a fierce encounter. All 8 infiltrators were killed but Col Vasanth was hit by a bullet in the crossfire. Colonel Vasanth was cremated with full military honours on Aug 01, 2007 in Bangalore and was awarded Ashok Chakra (posthumously), the highest gallantry award in peace time. The Colonel's wife Subhashini was promised land by the Govt of Karnataka as compensation but she has received nothing from the govt. "I have been struggling for over 6 years to get an entitlements because of Vasanth's Ashoka Chakra. The fact that he was the first from the state of Karnataka to get this award also seems to be a problem that they are not able to deal with. There is no precedent set. Also when they told me my dues, there was a cash of grant of 20,00 and an annuity and a one time grant of Rs 1,25,000 in lieu of which I could opt for the land. I thought the amount would take me nowhere and I opted for land in 2007. It's 2014 and it has really not fructified and have no papers in my hand. It has not been easy, the system just doesnt help you. No one is interested in making sure that your dues reach you and there is an attitude like they are doing me a favour. Which they are really not. They are just doing what they had promised a soldier, that if they made that supreme sacrifice to the nation then his family would be taken care of. And what shocks me, hurts me and pains me is that they just don't keep that promise. It's more on a matter of principle that I am running from pillar from post. And though I have friends from clerks to class D officers to IAS officer to even politicians to whom I have expressed my problems to, many of them have been positive and helped me and yet nothing has happened," she said. Unfortunately, this is not a stray case of indifference towards our martyrs' families, several others are sailing in the same boat as Subhashini like Salma Ghori, wife of Major Shafeeq Mahmood Khan Ghori who died in 2001 in operation Rakshak, is still fighting an uphill task to get 2 acres of land that was promised to her about 13 years ago. The system has only tried to dissuade these women from pursuing what is rightfully theirs, only creating more hurdles instead of assisting them. The Law Minister of Karnataka, T B Jayachandra when questioned about the issue said: "I tried to collect the information about the cases pending in the state. But we don't have any specific programmes. As and when these incidents come, we take a decision. What are the compensations that we should give or jobs that we should give to their survivors, etc. We have a programme and rules for the home department that is being applied. I have already instructed the home department officials to take these cases into the ambit of their dept. and whoever dies in wars should be given adequate compensation on par with the home department. I am trying to club the issue. As of today only one case is pending and that is of appointment and also told the secretary of DPAR to expedite this case. We dont ill-treat them, we don't disrespect them and we don't want them to go around to offices also. If you have any information regarding such cases, give it to me and I will take care of it."
In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Subhashini Vasanth, Wife of Late Colonel Vasanth; Mahroof Raza, Strategic Affairs Analyst; Lt. General (Retd) B S Jaswal, Former Army Commander, Northern Command; Major General (retd) Satbir Singh, Chairman, Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement -- discuss whether a martyr's supreme sacrifice forgotten in bureaucratic red-tape is not a shame.
Col NN Bhatia reacts to #SacrificeForgotten campaign, say martyrs' families should be given finanical support http://t.co/10Fc0Jbhgx
In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Subhashini Vasanth, Wife of Late Colonel Vasanth; Mahroof Raza, Strategic Affairs Analyst; Lt. General (Retd) B S Jaswal, Former Army Commander, Northern Command; Major General (retd) Satbir Singh, Chairman, Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement -- discuss whether a martyr's supreme sacrifice forgotten in bureaucratic red-tape is not a shame.
Col NN Bhatia reacts to #SacrificeForgotten campaign, say martyrs' families should be given finanical support http://t.co/10Fc0Jbhgx
Last edited:
