Martyr Dinesh Kumar Rana’s memorial gate near Palampur in a shambles

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, August 31

Nirmla Devi (76), mother of martyr Dinesh Kumar Rana, has been moving from pillar to post for the repair of the memorial gate constructed in the memory of her late son, who sacrificed his life in Kashmir while fighting terrorists in 2001.

Pleas for repair go unheeded

I have been trying to get the gate repaired for the past 15 years. I even requested the CM and the Assembly Speaker during their visits to the area three years ago, but to no avail. Nirmla Devi, mother of martyr Dinesh Kumar Rana

Dinesh was then serving in the 23 Phase Artillery Battalion and was posted at Udhampur. On August 15, 2001, his unit was deputed in a forest in the Kathan area of Jammu and Kashmir to neutralise terrorists. He lost his life in the encounter after killing two terrorists.

Nirmla says she had visited several offices, MLAs and ministers and made many requests in the past 15 years to get the memorial gate repaired. Disheartened, she says now she won’t request for the repair of the gate anymore.

At a time when the nation celebrated 75 years of Independence and remembered all those who had laid down their lives for the motherland, the gate constructed in the memory of this martyr at Kehra village, 25 km from here, is a picture of neglect.

“This is disrespect to martyrs. The authorities should maintain the memorial regularly. When I saw its picture on social media, I was pained to see the condition of the memorial. It would have been better had the state government not constructed it at all,” says GL Batra, father of late Capt Vikram Batra, a Param Vir Chakra awardee and hero of Kargil War.