Kutlehar: Liquor vend comes up in place of martyr's monument, residents livid

Advertisement

UNA, APRIL 26

The residents of Nangal Salangri village in Kutlehar Assembly segment of Una district today met the Deputy Commissioner, expressing strong resentment over the opening of a liquor vend in their village at the spot where the government had promised to build a monument in memory of a martyr from their village. The protesters also included members of the local panchayat and martyr Surinder Singh’s father Chote Lal Thakur.

On August 27, 2013, Hav Surinder Singh was part of a BSF team of 18 personnel who were traveling in three vehicles from Patangi to Sunki in Odisha’s Koraput district. Naxalites blew up the lead vehicle using an improvised explosive device and three soldiers, including Hav Surinder Singh, were killed.

Chote Lal Thakur said the then government had promised to construct a gate on the entry point of the village in the memory of his son. Ten years after the incident in which his son had made the supreme sacrifice for the country, the promise has remained unfulfilled despite repeated assurances by political leaders, he said.

The martyr’s father said after the formation of the new government, he had met newly elected Kutlehar MLA Davinder Bhutto with a request to initiate work on the promised monument, but no action has been initiated in this regard. He said he and the villagers were stunned to see that at the beginning of the new financial year, a liquor shop had been made functional at the spot where the gate was promised.

The villagers said they would intensify their protests if the vend was not removed from the spot. They also demanded that work on the promised gate in the memory of Hav Surinder Singh be initiated.