Slain Kirti Chakra awardee’s family look to return award; HP CM assures them of honouring sacrifice

Shimla, September 21

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday met the family of a slain Kirti Chakra awardee soldier from Kangra district who reached Raj Bhavan here to return the gallantry award to the Governor as they blamed successive state governments for failing to honour his sacrifice.

Kirti Chakra is the second-highest peacetime military award given for gallantry. Ashoka Chakra is the highest honour in the category.

The CM first met the family outside Raj Bhavan and later at his office and said his government was committed to provide full respect and honour to the fallen soldiers who had made supreme sacrifice for the cause of the nation.

He assured the jawan’s mother that he would look into the matter and appropriate action would be taken in this respect.

Talking to media before meeting Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, the soldier’s mother Raj Kumari said her then 23-year-old son Anil Chauhan of the Army’s 13 Grenadier had died in Assam against terrorists during Operation Rhino on 15 September, 2002.

He was posthumously awarded the Kirti Chakra in 2004 by the President.

A resident of Chambi village in Jaisinghpur area of Kangra district, Kumari said the state government failed to fulfil its promises including naming the local government high school in Haler after Chauhan and building a memorial in the village in his memory.

Fed up with the inaction shown by successive governments, she came along with other family members to return the award to the Governor as the promises have not been fulfilled even 18 years after her son’s supreme sacrifice.

The CM came to know about the family’s meeting and reached Raj Bhavan to meet her outside the premises.

Thakur assured her and the other family members of doing the best he can to get the demands fulfilled in this case.

Later, Kumari met the chief minister in his office, an official spokesman said. She apprised him of the demands again.

The CM said the state government would ensure that promises made by the state government to the family of the slain soldier were fulfilled and honoured. PTI