Palampur: Promised in 2017, CRPF braveheart Sanjay Kumar’s statue yet to come up

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, January 30

The family members of martyr Assistant Sub-Inspector (CRPF) Sanjay Kumar have been moving from pillar to post for the past five years to get his statue installed in his native Nagri village, seven kilometres from here. In past five years, the family has met Chief Minister, ministers and Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, but to no avail. Despite assurances given by then Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, nothing was done.

No progress

Despite my best efforts to get a statue installed, no progress could be made so far. The state authorities, however, keep on assuring our family members that the statue will be installed, as promised. Reema Sharma, Martyr Sanjay Kumar’s widow

Reema Sharma, wife of the martyr, was in tears at her native village, when asked about the statue. She said that despite her best efforts to have a statue installed, no progress could be made. She said all the time state authorities assured the family members that statue would be installed.

On one occasion, she was told that the state government had no funds and she should deposit Rs 1 lakh in the state exchequer as the cost of the bust. She deposited the money which, however, was returned to her on the intervention of BJP veteran Shanta Kumar.

She said her husband had made supreme sacrifice at a young age. She had two school-going daughters and the family had no support. Her father-in-law, who was an inspector in CRPF, is bedridden since 2017, because of the setback he suffered. Sanjay was killed in a Maoist attack in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh in April 2017. He left behind his wife and two small daughters.

At the time of his cremation, the state government had announced that a statue would be installed in his memory at Lahala Chowk Nagri and Senior Secondary School, Nagri, would be named after him. However, even after the lapse of five years, no headway has been made though the family has been moving from one office to the other.

Sanjay joined the CRPF in 1990. He, along with a team of CRPF jawans, had gone to the Naxal-hit Kalapathar of the south Bastar region of Sukma district on April 20, 2017, one of the worst-hit areas by the Left-wing extremism, for road construction when rebels attacked the team from different sides and Sanjay was shot dead.

Amit Guleria, SDM, Palampur, said the statue could not be installed because of the absence of funds from the state government. He said that his office had sent a request to the state government a year back for the allocation of funds. However, till date no money has been released.