Sofa, AC installed at slain Indian soldier's home removed

Prem Sagar was one of the soldiers killed in a border skirmish with Pakistan last fortnight. His body was also found mutilated. Last Friday, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi  Adityanath, paid a visit to the mourning family in the Deoria district of UP. And for a brief while, Prem Sagar's parents and relatives had a vision of how the rich and powerful lived in the country their son died for.
"Around 1 pm on Friday, administrative officials came and installed an AC in our drawing room. Then they  placed a sofa and spread out a carpet on the floor. The CM was in our house for about half-an-hour, and soon after he left, they began dismantling the AC and took away everything else," said Sagar's son Ishwar Chandra, "and it was hot again." The mercury last week touched 44 C.
Sagar, 45, was one of the two soldiers killed, and their bodies mutilated, in an attack by Pakistan's Border Action Team on May 1. On Friday, when the AC and the sofa and the carpet appeared like magic at Sagar's house, the family thought the government was honoring Sagar, and that the accessories were going to be permanent fixtures.
But it was later that they realized their mistake. Adityanath's visit was to hand over Sagar's family a cheque of Rs 4 lakh and a certificate of a fixed deposit of Rs 2 lakh. That was the value that the state government had arrived at  on the soldier's life, despite the loud patriotic noises which were made following the death of the two soldiers.
Authorities later said  the Public Works Department (PWD)had brought in the AC and other stuff.  The arrangements for the CM's visit had been done by the PWD, officials said, according to protocol:  "If a VIP guest comes for a visit, we have to do the necessary things to make him comfortable.  We have to take care of the facilities that he is accustomed to."
A Congress member of the UP legislative assembly said, there is no such protocol. "If a minister goes to a tribal village, who carries a table fan and a generator with him? It just shows how craven the bureaucratic culture in Uttar Pradesh is."
According to a government statement released after Adityanath's visit, the CM promised to build a memorial for the martyr in the village. The CM also promised to send a recommendation to the Centre on the family's demand for allotment of a cooking gas agency. Whatever the CM promised does not include an AC, sofa or carpet. Sagar's family is poor. A statue in memory of their son may gratify them, but a little more money by way of compensation might help them live a little better.

 

• India